Photo Credit: Lincoln City Parks and Recreation Department
When it comes to being extra-persnickety about maintenance, I would have to say that cleaning hot tubs ranks high on the risk-management list.
My opinion is partly based on personal experience—both at home and in a public-pool setting. However, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reinforced my belief when it recently announced an increase in infections from swimming pools and hot tubs. In a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) (as reported by Dr. Judy Stone, an infectious-disease specialist), the CDC announced that cases of a parasite—cryptosporidium—had doubled between 2014 and 2016, with 32 outbreaks reported. There have been 2,295 cases so far this year, compared to 2,631 in all of 2017, Stone wrote in a blog.
In the MMWR, the CDC noted that approximately 20 percent of 13,864 routine inspections of public hot tubs/spas conducted in 16 jurisdictions in 2013 identified improper concentrations of disinfectant (i.e., chlorine).