Lifeguards preparing for weekend beach traffic

With restrictions lifted for all Duval County beaches, lifeguards are stepping up safety measures in anticipation of weekend crowds. More beach traffic boosts the need for social distancing, but it also increases chances of an emergency and elevates the risk of exposure to COVID-19.
All Duval County beaches reopened fully May 6 following a collaborative effort between Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and the mayors of Jacksonville, Neptune and Atlantic beaches.
“While this is a positive step, I continue to urge people of Jacksonville to be cautious and responsible, continue to practice social distancing, keep your group sizes small. Do not get in groups of larger than 10 and please be aware of the space around you,” Curry said May 5 during a virtual news conference. “Let’s all be responsible and not let a few mess this up for all of us.”
Beaches were previously open during limited hours for physical activity only. Police patrolled the oceanfront, keeping people moving and encouraging adherence to social distancing guidelines. Capt. Rob Emahiser said he is prepared to bring in additional guards if needed to man the beachfront. And as always, rescue crews will call on training and employ additional safety measures to keep both the beachgoers and the lifeguards safe.
“We’ve been ready. I suspect that the crowd is already here,” said Emahiser. “I suppose there are some people who didn’t come because they wouldn’t be allowed to bring a cooler or a tent. We’ve got enough guards considering the conditions I expect, so we’ll be ready. It’s still a weekday and not everybody is out of work. I think we’ll expect a larger crowd on the weekends.”
All non-essential services such as routine blood pressure checks or station tours are suspended indefinitely to help minimize contact.
“Anything that is non-essential or non life-saving we will try to avoid. Where we have to, of course we will do the job and calculate the risk,” he said. “We actually wrote some protocols specifically for it. We are trying to be very preventive and observe and avoid rescue situations as we usually do only now it’s more important. If we are very observant and proactive, we minimize our rescues anyway. If conditions are in our favor and mellow, then we further reduce the likelihood. If we’re quick to respond, hopefully our victims are able to hold onto a buoy which gives us a fairly safe distance.”
According to Emahiser, all towers are equipped with CPR masks with an internal filter system that fits over a victim’s nose and mouth. In a life-saving emergency, guards will make the personal choice whether to do rescue breathing.
"Most of us are going to do what is commonly known. If someone needs it, we’ll be there.
“No one is expecting us to go out there with some aquatic mask because one doesn’t exist. We try our best to prevent that to recognize that and interrupt that process before we get there. If we do have to perform CPR, every truck is equipped with a bag mouth mask if someone is not breathing that delivers 100 percent oxygen from a tank to get them to a tower so they can then use the CPR mask. It’s hard to do rescue breathing if you’re wearing a mask. Our chances are really low with the kind of people that are in the lower risk category to begin with but we don’t want to spread it to our friends or our families, or our fellow lifeguards.”
Emahiser said most people were respectful during the closure and limited their activity during the partial reopening to permitted activities like surfing or walking. While lifeguards “aren’t in the enforcing business,” crews may request that larger groups spread out.
“If they are clearly not at all caring about the guidelines with 20 people packed together, we might ask them to separate. If they told us to beat it, we might let the police know and they can come and have a different conversation,” he said. “We don’t want to come at it like a police state. We’re going to be very friendly and respectful of each other. We’re asking very nicely for people to do the right thing. Nobody wants to arrest anybody for following a rule that’s only temporary.”
Officials remain encouraged by the statistics and declining number of positive cases. The Florida Department of Health reported May 5 that there have been 26 coronavirus-related deaths and 1,084 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Duval County. Curry said more than 28,000 tests have been conducted, with less than four percent coming back positive.
“In a nutshell, we encourage everybody as always to use common sense. Swim near a lifeguard. There will be lifeguards on duty during normal hours. If you’re not a strong swimmer, then stick to the hours a lifeguard is on duty. This is not the time to learn how to swim but a lot of our clients are people who don’t know how to swim. We just want to let everyone know that yes, the beach is back open and we want everyone to come and enjoy it but continue social distancing and follow the same guidelines. No big groups,” said Emahiser.
“We are doing what we can to minimize our exposure. We are going to use the minimum number of people. If it’s a full rescue or someone is not breathing in the water, we all know our job and we’ll take a calculated risk. We know what the numbers are and they’re pretty [much] in our favor. That looks pretty good for us with number of positive cases, we feel comfortable that we’ll take all the reasonable precautions that we can and I think we’ll all be safe.”