The Illinois Council is a state-wide coalition of skin and scuba diving clubs and individuals with interests in the sport of skin and/or scuba diving and interest in the prudent preservation and conservation of our marine environment.

COVID PATIENTS ARE FILLING HYPERBARIC FACILITIES

Reprinted from Undercurrent On-Line, September, 2021

The pandemic is affecting the safety of scuba divers.

You see, hyperbaric chambers from New Orleans to Tampa are filled with COVID-19 patients fighting for their lives, a preponderance of whom refused to get vaccinated, so many chamber operators will not accept injured divers.

Three medical facilities in Mississippi and Florida have stopped offering emergency hyperbaric services to divers in recent weeks due to the influx of COVID patients. A diver suffering DCS may need to travel to northwest Florida, Houston, or even North Carolina, taking up to 24 hours by road. The Wound Care and Hyperbaric Program director at Springhill Medical ICU says that about 50 diving injuries – one a week — are reported every year in the Central Gulf Coast.

So, fellow divers, exercise more caution when diving and persuade your unvaccinated friends to get jabbed and save a diver’s life

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