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Utahns push to reopen pools, parks

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UTAH — With most of the state of Utah spending the weekend in the "yellow" or low-risk COVID-19 alert level, a lot of restrictions are easing.

Pools are now allowed to be back open, but there are very few that actually are.

At the Cottonwood Heights Recreation Center, one pool is open only for lap swimming.

Salt Lake County has announced July 1 as a tentative opening for its pools, and no set date yet for splash pads.

In Riverdale, a lot of the park was roped off and the splash pad was empty.

“You would think that parks are fairly social distanced, so for them to remain closed is very surprising to me,” Braydon Scholtec told FOX 13 while out walking his dog.

Across town, the Roy Aquatic Center is also closed.

"I was really sad because my soon to be four-year-old little boy, he was saying 'I can’t wait to go swimming at Roy Aquatic,'” Jodi Stonehocker said. “So I Googled how to make a petition, got it going, wrote a little brief thing about why I wanted it to open.”

Stonehocker started a petition on change.org to reopen the center, which now has more than 350 signatures.

By starting it, she hopes that people will take notice, and places like the Roy Aquatic Center can open soon for people's mental and physical health.