In light of the current situation regarding COVID-19 (also known as ‘Coronavirus), Sport and Recreation Victoria have recently provided updated advice - extract below:

On Monday, the Premier announced that as of midday 16 March 2020, a State of Emergency takes effect in Victoria.

Following the declaration of a State of Emergency, Victoria’s Chief Health Officer issued a legal direction that bans gatherings of 500 or more people in Victoria. The declaration also included a requirement for people entering Australia to self-isolate for 14-days upon arrival. The mass gathering ban and the 14-day isolation period has the force of law, and penalties apply if it is breached.

Under the ban, people are prohibited from organising and attending mass gatherings. People are also banned from allowing mass gatherings to occur on premises they own, control or operate.

The ban operates from noon on 16 March 2020 to midnight on 13 April 2020.

Certain gatherings are excluded from the operation of the ban. Details can be found at: https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/state-of-emergency-declared-in-victoria-over-covid-19/

This means that community and grassroots sport, active recreation and racing can continue under the declaration in Victoria where they do not constitute a mass gathering.

However, as the situation is rapidly changing people are urged to regularly check the DHHS coronavirus website at www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus for updates.

SRV will continue to provide up-to-date industry advice as new information comes in, but for general health matters please check regularly with DHHS at https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus.

As of 9.23am this morning, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a ban on non-essential gatherings of 100 or more people indoors, but schools, universities and childcare facilities will be exempt. At this stage, we are awaiting further details on the potential impact this may have upon our sport with consideration to the decision of facility management across various venues. We will endeavour to provide our members with updates as soon as possible.

Whilst we acknowledge that diving is a relatively small community and may not breach the above regulations, the Diving Victoria Board has made the decision to place the safety and well-being of our members, staff and volunteers as the number one focus within all discussions around this issue.

There is a rising concern within our community that local sport should be suspended given discussions about ‘social distancing’ and many other Victorian sporting associations have proceeded in enacting this recommendation.

We have also been recently advised of the cancellation of all school based diving bookings scheduled over the coming weeks. In line with this, Diving Victoria has made the decision to cancel all competitions and events up until the end of the April school holidays including all holiday programs, Come & Try Day, Pennant 5 and the Victorian All Schools Championships.

At this stage, the high performance programs (VPP Squads) will continue for the remainder of Term 1 along with Dive School programming. We will continue to monitor the situation and a decision regarding the future of Dive School, all competitions and high performance squads will be made before the end of March.

If you have registered for any of these upcoming programs or competitions please contact the Diving Victoria office on (03) 9686 7534 to discuss refund arrangements.

For now, the facility at MSAC will remain open to the public and access to the pool will remain unchanged for Diving Victoria affiliated clubs. Clubs who wish to continue with their training schedule at MSAC may do so at their own discretion, providing they comply with government regulations and guidelines.

We understand and respect the right for families to make informed decisions on behalf of their children and therefore participants may elect not to engage in any diving related program if they do not feel comfortable in doing so. In this instance, we strongly encourage all families to communicate directly with their respective club or coach to confirm details relevant to their children.

In addition to this, Diving Australia has also made the decision this morning to cancel the 2020 Age National Championships scheduled to be held in Brisbane. Further details of this announcement can be found on the following page http://www.diving.org.au/news/covid-19-update-18-march/

Diving Australia have provided the following operational recommendations:

• The decision as to whether to hold training will be a Club by Club decision.

• Further, the decision to attend training must be an individual decision for an athlete and his/her family (and communicated as such).

• When conducting training, every athlete and coach should strive to be at least 1.5 metres away from each other, but preferably 2. E.g., bags should be placed 2m apart.

• Clubs and coaches should give consideration to reducing the number of athletes in the pool at any one time. Look to reschedule training times and perhaps reduce training hours to achieve this.

• Chamois and water bottles should not be shared; nor should they be touched by anyone other than their owner.

• All other health directives, such as regular handwashing, sneezing/coughing into the crook of one’s elbow or a tissue which is immediately binned should also be followed.

• Any suspected or proven COVID-19 infection should also be reported to your State Association as a matter of urgency so that other steps can be taken quickly.

Diving Victoria also supports strict hygiene protocols as established by the Federal Government and wishes to remind all members of the need to adhere to these guidelines https://www.health.gov.au/resources

Please remember, if anyone associated with your club or training environment is feeling unwell, they should refrain from training and club activities immediately, seek medical advice and where appropriate inform the club and/or Diving Victoria of their absence.

Diving Victoria will continue to monitor the rapidly evolving situation and we will continue to take the advice of the Government, Diving Australia and facility management personnel.

We appreciate this may be a disappointing outcome to many of our members and we thank you for your support and understanding as we navigate these unprecedented times.