Spreading communicable diseases via regulator

[saxman242]

nor was there any exchange at the Y, provided that we had the rarer octopus rigs . . .

So at the y, most of the time, you either gave them the primary while buddy breathing or let them die, which was the point.

 

[Bigbella]

So at the y, most of the time, you either gave them the primary while buddy breathing or let them die, which was the point.

Yeah, they all died . . .

Some of us, at the Y, had one of three or more rigs -- count them, one, two three; use fingers if need be -- with an octopus, which we exchanged from class to class, between the twelve or so students -- so, 25% had them, for those of you from public school. We experimented with buddy breathing at a single session, since that practice was on its way out; nor were we ever encouraged to do it, in the real world.

We were instructed -- again, within the REAL world -- not to give away the primary . . .

 

[saxman242]

Gotcha, no buddy breathing.

So 3 donated their octopus and 7 let their buddy die.

I ran out of fingers after that.

 

[tursiops]

Gotcha, no buddy breathing.

So 3 donated their octopus and 7 let their buddy die.

I ran out of fingers after that.

Amazing post. Insulting your readers twice in one short paragraph. Good job.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

This Covid-19 pandemic is changing a lot of things.
I can see how it’s making people think a lot more about germs and how they exchange. Not only Covid, but all other viruses. I know I’ve thought about other diseases being spread and think that the measures we take with this one should certainly work with others as well.
I never saw the long hose primary donate used or mainstreamed until GUE/DIR came along. Prior to that it was the octo donate in the triangle and the primary never left the donors mouth. I remember the instructor specifically telling us that with this new method (an upgrade from buddy breathing the same second stage) the donator would be in full control and not miss a beat. Made sense to me. Then he went over all the attachment methods and which ones were the better ones. All of them were not that great and always seemed to fall out half way through the dive.
Until someone comes up with a good secure easy to deploy safe second, it seems we will always have this problem. As far as handing someone a non working reg, this is ridiculous, it needs to be checked prior to the dive and kept serviced just like any other piece of gear. A bungees second could also go unchecked and not function properly with that line of reasoning.
I’m actually thinking of switching back to an octo donate with all that has come to light. Figuring out a new breakthrough securing system will be the challenge.
Come to think of it, a few of my buddies that I occasionally dive with still use the octo donate.

 

[saxman242]

As far as handing someone a non working reg, this is ridiculous, it needs to be checked prior to the dive and kept serviced just like any other piece of gear

So there in lies the problem if we are talking about disease transmission.

If you're testing the octopus each dive by breathing off of it, you're contaminating it, so the concern here is moot.

If you're trying to not contaminated it by not testing it, well, then you're not testing it.

Now, you could argue that just pressing the purge button gives some confidence it is working, but that's still different from breathing off it to check functionality.

You could also argue that sitting in water while diving is cleaning the reg, but the tests on covid haven't shown that to be true, and all of the post rinse tests for bacteria growth also bring that notion into question.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

So there in lies the problem if we are talking about disease transmission.

If you're testing the octopus each dive by breathing off of it, you're contaminating it, so the concern here is moot.

If you're trying to not contaminated it by not testing it, well, then you're not testing it.

Now, you could argue that just pressing the purge button gives some confidence it is working, but that's still different from breathing off it to check functionality.

You could also argue that sitting in water while diving is cleaning the reg, but the tests on covid haven't shown that to be true, and all of the post rinse tests for bacteria growth also bring that notion into question.

Test it once in water by pressing the purge button and test once by inhale only with end of lips on outlet if needed.
The difference is that the primary donate comes out of your mouth where it was fully in with teeth in the bite strips and then goes immediately into the recipients mouth with vapor droplets from breathing still in the second stage (provided it was handed pointing down) and possible undissolved mucous still on the mouthpiece.

With the octo method the reg had very minimal outer salivary contact or none but was also sitting in a holder getting rinsed for a while and any viruses have a better chance of getting washed off.
That’s the difference I see.

Beyond that I think either system works fine provided it’s correctly functional and the divers know what they’re doing.

 

[formernuke]

So testing the octo is out???

You really no idea is that is working or not. I was trained to actually test my regs, so I do while diving I switch at least once. I know for a fact I have 2 working second stages.

Again if I pass something that I don't even know I have to you I'm sorry but your alive. The cost benefit analysis of 2 dead or bent diver instead of 1, or 0 is worth the meniscal risk.

The real question is why do tech and cave divers dive this way. They are the most extreme among us, I would think they know what they are doing.

 

[saxman242]

That’s the difference I see.

And it's a valid difference, but if we are talking about virus living on a surface, once you're mouth on the mouthpiece, it's contaminated. There's definitely some studying that'd need to be done to see what if any difference there are there. When we are talking about the odds of a real OOA emergency combined with the odds of someone actually being ill but being asymptomatic and being contagious and the difference in viral load on the mouthpiece after doing an underwater handoff... We are probably talking the difference between 0 cases and 0 cases depending on method.

 

[saxman242]

The real question is why do tech and cave divers dive this way. They are the most extreme among us, I would think they know what they are doing.

I think you'll find the primary answer is "because they know the reg in their mouth is the proper gas for the moment".