CDC stats show drowning top cause of death for Florida children ages 1-4
MIAMI – That backyard pool sounds pretty good on a hot day, but don't forget it can be deadly. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says drowning is the top cause of death for children ages 1-4 in the state of Florida.
Nick VinZant, senior research analyst and insurance expert at QuoteWizard, just crunched the numbers for the last three years and they're not good.
More than 410 people have drowned in Florida pools. Nearly half of them were children.
To break it down further, 156 were fatal drownings of kids under the age of 5 and 24 were between the ages of 5 and 14.
Now, one reason our numbers are so high is because of the sheer number of residential pools across the state. It's warm here year-round, but for some reason Florida stands out.
"What's concerning about Florida is the number of pool drownings are so much higher than other similar size states like Texas and California that have had around 200-300 pool fatalities, while Florida has had more than 400," said VinZant.
Florida law requires all pools built after 2000 to have a pool barrier or some sort of fence around it. And there are certain requirements for that.
But if you have children, it is recommended that you have layers of protection. In addition to the fence, consider childproof locks or alarms on all windows or doors.
The biggest thing you can do to ensure children are safe in the pool is to assign someone to watch them.