Should Divers with Head Colds be Quarantined?

People make you ill. You may not even know who. COVID, flu, or cold aerosol drops can last an hour or more inside a liveaboard. The virus left on a doorknob may live up to 24 hours after you open that door; you go to dinner and inadvertently touch your lips.

In August, we wrote that one of our correspondents traveled to the Philippines and made back-to-back trips to Tubbataha on the MY Infiniti. He reported, "I got a head cold the first night back on the boat for the second tour. All six in my group ended up getting it and having to medicate our way through it. Two people had to skip a day of diving, being unable to clear their ears."

We asked ourselves, should divers with obvious symptoms, such as a runny nose, sneezing, or congestion, isolate themselves on a liveaboard, eat meals alone, and keep away from the common areas? After all, a diver can be contagious for about five to seven days.

It's a difficult question. People on boats live in close proximity. One may not recognize they have a virus for a day or two after they become infectious. Once they do, should they quarantine themselves? Should the boat crew take action? Should they wear a medical face mask (as is normal even among non-divers in Japan) between dives so as not to ruin an expensive trip for others?

We asked our readers what they think. After Michael Francis (Palos Verdes Estates, CA) boarded his liveaboard in Raja Ampat, he discovered that there was a severely ill diver who became his cabinmate. "Although the boat manager knew the person was severely ill, she nevertheless put me in the same cabin. I objected and suggested that the person be asked to leave the boat in Maumere. The boat manager refused.

"I suffered through one night as he coughed and sneezed and was severely sick. The next morning, I went to the boat manager and explained that I would not share a cabin with this infirm person. I was moved to a lower-level cabin to share with a crew member. Fortunately, I did not get sick."

Julie Orange (Irvine, CA), who is immune-compromised, finds traveling challenging. She wrote, "The minute I got on the boat, I could hear loud, persistent coughing of one of the crew. I knew then I would get whatever the crew got with no escaping. Fortunately, I was able to finish the week's diving before getting really sick on the way home.

"[I caught] another cold on a resort dive trip. It was the last day, and I felt very unwell, with a fever over 100°F. I tested negative for COVID, so I did get on the airplane with a mask. I later found out that the staff of the resort that transferred us from the airport on arrival got sick around the same time. I was a sitting duck, no way to avoid getting sick from the staff."

Her precautions: "I take every available vaccine, bring Z-pack antibiotic, pain-killers (aspirin, Tylenol, ibuprofen, all three kinds so that I can alternate their use in case I have to take lots), prednisone, and Tamiflu. I wear a surgical mask on airplanes and at airports and stay outdoors as much as possible at a destination. I saline nasal rinse every day, and I always bring a thermometer, COVID test kit, Benadryl, Pepto Bismol, and bug spray."

Lynn Morton, a California travel agent who leads dive trips, had another solution and wrote, "Colds were driving me crazy. A doctor friend pointed out that everyone should wash their hands before going to the buffet. It didn't work because not everyone would do it. So I started bringing hand sanitizer on trips and put one at the buffet table and one in the bar. I tell everyone to use it when they come up in the line. It cut colds down to almost nothing."

David Colvard (Raleigh, NC), a retired physician, sent us some statistics with the seven top reasons divers canceled dives in 2003: 56 percent suffered head colds, 21 percent had sinus or ear infections, and 16 percent had flu or a fever. Seventy percent had picked up a communicable disease.

"Scuba divers are notorious for concealing health problems that might keep them from being allowed to dive. Signs and symptoms of viruses usually follow several days after exposure, and the person can be a spreader before they even know they have it. This bodes poorly for isolation as a preventive measure to protect other divers on a liveaboard."

He added, "When I was on the Red Sea last October, several divers had picked up a gastroenteritis bug in Cairo, abstained from diving, and confined themselves on the vessel. I dread contracting the cruise ship norovirus more than a cold bug."

Mike Robinson (Sun Lakes, AZ) opined, "Nearly all my diving was outside the USA, so restricting obviously ill divers would be nearly impossible, in my opinion. Both divers and boat owners would be reluctant to incur a financial loss, and divers may have time-limited dive packages. I have experienced both ill and drunk divers on board, and it certainly degrades the experience."

Harley Piltingsrud (Cincinnati) says, "COVID or the flu is always a problem on a liveaboard. If someone comes on board with symptoms, it is likely that others will catch it. Sometimes, sick people choose to hang around/sleep in the lounge. On a trip two years ago, I would estimate over half the guests, including myself, left the boat with COVID. There is no pre-boarding testing for COVID anymore, so you take your chances of catching something."

Yup, it's the luck of the draw. Avoid a symptomatic guest, but engage whoever leads the crew and ask if they would advise the symptomatic guest to self-quarantine (and sleeping in the lounge doesn't work).

If you're the one with symptoms, be thoughtful and kind. You can ruin others' diving. Think about self-quarantining, semi-isolation, or wear a mask. It's your choice how you handle it.

Ben Davison