Your personal health and safety and that of your diving students is and must be an utmost priority. As we confront the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak worldwide, it is critical that dive instructors, dive centers and dive operators take precautions to minimize potential risk of disease transmission to their students and guests.

The suggested best practices you can take are to:

Follow local health and safety authority guidelines, Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization recommendations for personal and public health, and
Follow manufacturer’s guidelines for dive equipment disinfection.

Related to diving, the World Recreational Scuba Training Council (WRSTC) recommends that you not teach when you are ill, and that you defer training for students that are ill. Ensure you and your dive operation have clear procedures in place for health and safety, such as staff handwashing, routine cleaning/disinfection of common surfaces, and a disciplined policy for routine equipment disinfection, especially between users, based on manufacturer’s guidelines. Equipment disinfection is particularly important relative to regulator second stages, BCDs and BCD inflators, masks (including display and new masks that may be tried on by customers) and snorkels. In addition to equipment manufacturer recommendations Divers Alert Network provides an additional resource on disinfection.

Beyond having strict and effective policies in place regarding hygiene and equipment disinfection as described, look to your diver training organization for the latest information on conducting diver training and training techniques to minimize the chances of disease transmission.