I will be continuing my local diving in the ocean. This means about a 3 block drive while already in my wetsuit with plastic covering the car seat for the drive back to the house (I dive wet in winter). There is usually no one around or at best someone walking their dog at the site. The same can be said for the "summer spots" I frequent around here, but with maybe a couple of others diving at the same time.
In these times I would not begin to consider driving any further to dive, certainly not to FLORIDA! That would be incredibly irresponsible in these times--plus, the border is closed to non-essential traffic anyway.
Unless you are food or pharmacy shopping or are dead sure you won't be in a position to catch or spread the virus, we all should STAY HOME. Won't solve the problem until the vaccine come next year anyway, but what else can one do?
L.A. Times: Scientists Concerned over Potential COVID-19 Exposure from Beach Walks and Swimming
L.A. Times: Scientists Concerned over Potential COVID-19 Exposure from Beach Walks and Swimming
POSTED BY JENNIFER FUMIKO CAHILL @JFUMIKOCAHILL ON MON, APR 6, 2020 AT 12:35 PM
The
Los Angeles Times is reporting potential COVID-19 infection risk at California beaches, not just from other people out for walks and surfing, but from the ocean and its spray.
The
piece quotes Kim Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, who "worries SARS-CoV-2 could enter the ocean from sewage spills and outfalls, and then reenter the atmosphere." Prather's concern about beach exposure to the virus, about which scientists are still learning, is not just about swimming in potentially polluted ocean waters, but the particulates and "microscopic pathogens" that could wash into the ocean from rains and be delivered by spray from waves carried on the wind.
She also says, “I wouldn’t go in the water if you paid me $1 million right now.”
Another scientist, Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona, who's been studying viruses in wastewater, says it's unclear how long COVID-19 can survive in saltwater.
Humboldt local Jennifer Savage, Surfrider's policy manager for California, is also quoted, in the piece, in support of beach closures around the state for the sake of public health, though those changes have been driven by concern over maintaining social distance. While Redwood State and National Parks have closed their parking lots, beaches in Humboldt County remain open with some restrictions for parking.