Covid-19 Resources
The links listed below contain current information and recommendations from professional diving and medical organizations surrounding issues like returning to diving after COVID-19 exposure, disinfecting equipment, animal care operations, and more. We will continue to monitor, evaluate, and add pertinent new information and will keep the lines of communication open with the entire diving community.
For scientific boating guidance, please visit our partners at the
Scientific Boating Safety Association .
The AAUS Board of Directors and the Office are here to help; please do not hesitate to contact us directly if you need other assistance or support.
AAUS members can access a folder of Covid-19 SOPs, plans and cleaning protocols collected from AAUS OMs and other sources
here.
2021 AAUS COVID-19 Town Hall
On January 22, 2021 AAUS hosted a COVID-19 Town hall with a session from Karen Van Hoesen (UHMS) on returning to diving post COVID, a session from Francios Burman (DAN) on Risk Mitigation and a panel discussion on current practices from several AAUS DSOs. Please find below a recording of that Town Hall meeting. All documents shared during the Town Hall can be found in the AAUS Resource Library/Covid Resources/Town Hall (requires member login).
Relevant Links for Week of May 01, 2020
AZA guidelines:
https://zahp.aza.org/covid-19-animal-care/
CUHMA: https://cuhma.ca/learn/hyperbaric-medicine-during-covid-19-pandemic
European Underwater and Baromedical Society: http://www.eubs.org/?p=1074
ADCI Advisory Notice 4 - COVID-19: ADCI Dive Medical Exams Vs. COVID-19 Risk - As the COVID-19 situation ramps up, concerns about the health risk to divers coming into the clinic for annual dive medicals have been expressed by industry stakeholders.This advisory notice is sanctioned by the ADCI Physicians Diving Advisory Committee (PDAC) and is intended to clarify the issue of whether dive physicians will continue perform dive medical examinations during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been decided that the decision to perform dive medical examinations should be left up to the individual physician, in conjunction with the diving contractors that they service, to determine how to approach this situation. While it may be totally appropriate to continue examinations in some areas, it may be inappropriate to continue examinations in other areas that have more COVID-19 cases. Proper screening protocols should be put into place prior to testing. If physicians are able to completely segregate individuals with symptoms from those that are healthy, they should be able to continue to provide care for healthy individuals. The ADCI, under advisement from PDAC, is granting a 1 July 2020 extension on a case-by-case basis for those dive medicals that are about to expire. Diving Physicians will need to review the previous dive physicals to determine if the extension will be granted. It should be noted that the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM) advises suspension of routine occupational spirometry testing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Spirometry, the most frequently performed pulmonary function test (PFT), is the cornerstone of occupational respiratory surveillance programs.
Relevant Links for Week of May 08, 2020