Sixty-five percent of the incidents happened in a pool owned by the child's family and 33 percent o the incidents happened in a pool owned by friends or relatives. Pool submersions involving children happen quickly. A child can drown in the time it takes to answer a phone. Seventy-seven percent of the victims had been missing from sight for 5 minutes or less. Survival depends on rescuing the child quickly and restarting the breathing process, even while the child is still in the water.
Seconds count in preventing death or brain damage.
Child drowning is a silent death. There's no splashing to alert anyone that the child is in trouble. Even people that can swim, very well, can drown when they bump their head, become entrapped, or have medical emergencies like seizures or black outs. There must be a permanent barrier to entry. The gate should be locked when the pool is not in use.