Douglas Ebersole, MD, is a recreational and technical diving instructor, physician consultant for the Divers Alert Network, the medical advisor for RAID International and a COVID-19 survivor.
As such, he has some really interesting thoughts on when it might be safe to get back out on the water and go diving.
In a blog post published on the RAID website, Ebersole writes about how he tested positive for COVID-19 after seeing a patient in his cardiology clinic for an unrelated condition who seemed quite short of breath. While the patient eventually recovered, Ebersole himself — who was wearing an N95 when he saw the patient — after a few days began developing a cough and profound fatigue followed by fever.
According to Ebersole:
“I ended up testing positive and spent the next couple of weeks quarantined at home. I have now recovered and will be going back to work this week and look forward to returning to diving. More on that later. I am definitely one of the lucky ones. Thousands of others have been hospitalized, required ventilators, and have died. Our thoughts and prayers should go out to those patients and their families.”
His blog post goes into a great amount of detail about how to return to diving and what precautions divers should take once lockdowns in various countries are lifted.
Check out his full blog at diveraid.com.
