COVID-19 impact on diving

[Miyaru]

Anyway, the question from @Efka76 was about experience in diving after covid. Roughly 90% of my post was an answer to that question. My apologies that the last 10% was the reason for derailing this thread.

 

[David Novo]

According to government statistics in my country, the daily number of positive PCR test results are currently hovering around 7000. Two weeks ago, that number was ~5000 and a month ago that number was above 10000.
The media present these numbers as COVID19 infections, and although it remains unknown how many people re-test, these numbers are added up.
So, following that policy and playing by the government rules, adding everything up would indicate that half of the population has been infected in the course of this year.

If you are from the Netherlands, there are 564,921 confirmed positive tested people, combined with a population of 17.28M, results in less than 4% of the population (far from half).

Put that amount next to the number of registered covid-19 hospital admissions, and you'll see it's a tiny percentage

I think that you are confusing a lot of concepts. Hospital admissions and long-term effects are not the same issue: you are comparing apples to oranges.
And, as @Storker pointed out, you are confusing the probability of getting long-term effects from COVID, with the probability of getting long-term effects from COVID if you have COVID.

P.S.: I am not arguing for or against the general idea that you are presenting ("not a significant proportion of the population is at risk of long-term effects from COVID-19"). However, the numbers you presented are not enough to support it and in some cases are false.

 

[Storker]

If you are from the Netherlands, there are 564,921 confirmed positive tests, combined with a population of 17.28M, results in less than 4% of the population (far from half).

A more correct metric is number of confirmed cases vs number of tests, which neither is a particularly good metric because there's a misrepresentation of the populace in who gets tested. It's pretty damned complicated. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing - Statistics and Research

The only proper metric is the ratio of confirmed cases to number of tests at the same fraction of the population tested. Otherwise, there are way too many unknowns to say anything sensible. Problem is, I seriously doubt if we can find two countries with the same fraction of the population tested.

 

[David Novo]

A more correct metric is number of confirmed cases vs number of tests, which neither is a particularly good metric because there's a misrepresentation of the populace in who gets tested. It's pretty damned complicated. Coronavirus (COVID-19) Testing - Statistics and Research

The only proper metric is the ratio of confirmed cases to number of tests at the same fraction of the population tested. Otherwise, there are way too many unknowns to say anything sensible. Problem is, I seriously doubt if we can find two countries with the same fraction of the population tested.

I agree it is not a decent measure. I was just checking the validity of the statement that half of the Dutch population has tested positive already.

 

[Hoyden]

Returning to diving post-COVID-19 has been a big topic amongst Dive Program Administrators. As we are responsible for the safety of our staff and volunteer divers, most are taking a very conservative approach since so much is still unknown. UCSD has probably the most comprehensive documant that is publicly available. You can find it here: https://health.ucsd.edu/coronavirus...uation of Divers during COVID-19 pandemic.pdf

I would be willing to discuss our protocols off-line.

YMMV,

Jackie

 

[Efka76]

Returning to diving post-COVID-19 has been a big topic amongst Dive Program Administrators. As we are responsible for the safety of our staff and volunteer divers, most are taking a very conservative approach since so much is still unknown. UCSD has probably the most comprehensive documant that is publicly available. You can find it here: https://health.ucsd.edu/coronavirus/Documents/UC San Diego Guidelines for Evaluation of Divers during COVID-19 pandemic.pdf

I would be willing to discuss our protocols off-line.

YMMV,

Jackie

Jackie, thank you very much for this information. That was really helpful. After visit to BSAC doctor (Jan - Feb 2021 time) I will post in this thread what tests I needed to take. According to your list I fall into Category 1 and think that everything should be OK because I am able to hike in hills without any breathing issues. Now I intend to get back to training regime to get back into shape.

 

[ljpm]

Although not directly related diving, the following link explains some of the effects seen on the lungs.
The emerging long-term complications of Covid-19, explained
The report deals mainly with people who have been in hospital as those are the easiest to study. It does however state that "of 58 asymptomatic patients, 95 percent also had evidence of these ground-glass opacities in their lungs". The opacities discussed being responsible for lung scarring.
It would seem from this that most asymptomatic patients will experience some lung scarring. It is reasonable to assume that lung damage will not be a severe as for someone that needed hospitalization and O2 as the more scarring the more likely you would have been hospitalized.