Near-drowning incidents increase in children during pandemic

An increasing number of San Diego County children have been rescued from private pools after nearly drowning, the county Health and Human Services Agency announced recently.

Local data shows that 49 rescues occurred in private pools, beaches and bays from March through July 2020 compared to 37 in the same time period of 2019 and 33 the year before that. Nearly all those rescued needed to be taken to local hospitals for treatment.

Of the 49 near-drowning incidents reported this year, 28 occurred in pools, most of them private pools. Fourteen occurred in the ocean, lakes or bays and the rest in...