LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The death of a woman swimming in a Las Vegas gym pool in February led to changes in lifeguard requirements at southern Nevada pools, health district officials said Thursday.

The incident, detailed in a release from the Southern Nevada Health District, occurred in a Las Vegas Athletic Club (LVAC) facility near the intersection of Decatur Boulevard and Tropical Parkway in North Las Vegas on Feb. 4. SNHD officials say that security camera video from February shows the woman, identified as Leticia Triplett, 58, of North Las Vegas by Clark County Coroner’s Office officials, in the pool struggling for approximately 9 minutes.

Triplett was then seen motionless for 8 minutes before another customer who was active in another pool at the facility noticed her. The customer then pulled Triplett from the water and started CPR as an LVAC employee exited the locker room and entered the pool area. In all, SNHD officials said Triplett was in distress for approximately 20 minutes before an LVAC employee responded.

Clark County Coroner’s Office officials say Triplett’s death was an accident, listing her cause of death as drowning, although a release from SNHD said that “LVAC asserts this was not a drowning.” Coroner’s officials cite hypertensive cardiovascular disease and obesity as other significant conditions that contributed to her death.

The deadly incident has triggered SNHD officials to revoke a decision that had allowed LVAC and several gyms in the Las Vegas valley to monitor pool use at clubs by using a video feed instead of a physically present pool-side lifeguard. According to the release, inspections in the years since that decision and two separate incidents, including the death in February, have led officials to determine that video feed usage was not sufficient to protect the public.

“Since the lifeguard exemption for gyms was granted in 2020, there have been 29 pool closures at 21 locations due to failures to comply with requirements,” the release said. “Specific safety plan requirements that were not met included failing to provide active remote monitoring of the pool area and documented walk-throughs of the pool area by facility staff.”

According to the SNHD release, several gyms have either resumed operations with an approved lifeguard plan or have a lifeguard plan under review. Those locations include:

EōS Fitness

• 3325 E. Russell Rd., Las Vegas, NV 89120
• 8125 W. Sahara Ave. Ste. 100, Las Vegas, NV 89117
• 4520 N. Scott Robinson Blvd., North Las Vegas, NV 89031
• 3511 St. Rose Pkwy., Henderson, NV 89052

UFC FIT (pending approval)

• 5651 Centennial Center Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89149