Posted on 04/24/2020 11:36:08 AM PDT by ConservativeStatement
South Florida’s beaches are closed, even as some counties and cities across the state, like Jacksonville and, soon, Sarasota County, have begun the process of reopening theirs.
But what does it mean for lifeguards today, when most Florida beaches are off-limits due to the coranavirus? And what does it mean for the time when lifeguards resume regular duties — as in making beach rescues and coming into close contact with beachgoers in the era of COVID-19?
Lifeguards are, like paramedics, first responders, after all.
(Excerpt) Read more at miamiherald.com ...
This is no different from first responders and people trained in CPR carrying pocket mouthguards to protect themselves from other contagions.
The number of deaths for people under 30 is infinitesimally small.
Interesting. I was a guard and a guard trainer for ten years. Over the years, we realized that ventilations weren’t as important as compressions. We had our masks, and were expected to perform ‘traditional’ cpr, but unless the vic was pulled directly from the water, compressions came first — and really, if they did come from the water, the first to vents were to prime the pump to get the water out of the lungs.
You couldn’t pay me to be a guard these days, though. Not worth the legal hassles. People are so litigation crazy, they can save themselves as far as I’m concerned.
Guys, I’m also an English teacher. “To” should, of course, be “two” in the last sentence of the first paragraph. I hang my head in shame.
I was an active beach goer in my younger days and especially when I lived in Miami. Whether something active such as sports or just being a sun bum. A legitimate question, when you were a lifeguard was there a concern about sun exposure especially around the face? I wonder how masks would function in the sun especially with perspiration.
From Wikipedia. I didn’t know...
The audience was 65 percent female,[9] with its number one audience being women aged 18 to 34. Speaking in 2001, Schwartz explained that, after doing focus groups on Baywatch for about five years, they learnt that the show appealed to this demographic because “most of [its] lead characters were strong, independent women who were heroic, who were saving lives, who were equal to men”.[10]
But all lifeguard training and recertifications are on hold.
Never watched.
Can’t believe that property is now 30 yo... ;)
No wonder Borat had the hots for Pam.
Yes and no.
I guarded, thankfully, an indoor trio of pools at a luxury health club. So, sun coverage wasn’t an issue.
UNLESS...
I was either guarding or attending our monthly inservices at the local outdoor high school pool (which had a 12 foot dive well that we needed for deep water rescue training) or teaching lifeguarding at same pool, and that was from 2009 to 2019. And while they had a section on sun protection, we didn’t often do it, or we didn’t reapply often enough.
And thankfully, while I’m German and Scottish, and 52, despite the sun exposure, I have little to no *visible* sun damage. I have scary lucky genetics, and my parents (who treated their bodies like amusement parks), did too.
I shudder to think what I look like under one of those UV lights. That’s the real Dorian Gray test. Yeeks.
But, to answer your question, yes, the american red cross does a whole thing on skin protection.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.