RFK Jr took his grandchildren for a dip in DC’s Rock Creek – despite warnings that high bacteria levels make it unsafe

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went swimming with his grandchildren in Rock Creek in Washington, D.C., even amid warnings that the waterway isn’t safe for swimming because of high bacterial levels.

Kennedy wrote on X that he went on a “Mother’s Day hike in Dumbarton Oaks Park with Amaryllis, Bobby, Kick, and Jackson” and took “a swim with my grandchildren, Bobcat and Cassius in Rock Creek.”

The 71-year-old posted a number of photos, showing him shirtless, jeans on, in the water in the Potomac River tributary.

“Swimming and wading are not allowed due to high bacteria levels,” the National Park Service states on its website. “Stay out of the water to protect streambanks, plants, and animals and keep you and your family (including pets!) safe from illness.”

In addition to the high levels of bacteria, the waterway also has “other infectious pathogens,” making swimming, wading, and any other water contact a “hazard” for humans and pets alike.

Swimming has been forbidden there since the 1970s, primarily due to contamination from the area’s old sewer system. However, there have recently been attempts to lessen the ban, and it’s rarely enforced. But signs along Rock Creek warn of the dangers of going in.

The Senate confirmed Kennedy in February despite concerns on both sides of the aisle about his unconventional stances on a range of issues. He has faced criticism for his anti-vaccine beliefs.

Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Kennedy described himself and his allies at the department as “renegades” and “juggernauts against convention.”

In court documents, it was previously revealed that doctors told Kennedy in 2010 that a parasite had eaten part of his brain. He also suffered from mercury poisoning, likely from eating fish.

Kennedy faced mockery on X after posting about his swim in the creek, with Jared Facundo writing: “Imagine hiking through Rock Creek and finding the HHS Secretary wading in contaminated water.”

Yashar Ali noted that the National Park Service “prohibits swimming and wading in the water in Rock Creek due to oil, heavy metals, pesticides, pet waste, and raw sewage in the water.”

“High levels of E. Coli and fecal coliform bacteria are often detected in the water, posing a serious risk of infection,” he added. “Contact with contaminated water can cause skin infections, gastrointestinal illness, ear/eye infections, and other diseases, especially in children and people with compromised immune systems.”

“Getting into Rock Creek anywhere inside the Beltway is sort of weird and kooky, getting into Rock Creek downstream from the National Zoo is bugnuts. Basically begging for a zoonotic parasite. Forget Chinese wet markets, this guy is cooking up COVID-25 inside his grandkids,” one user said.