Covid’s deadly secret revealed – why it’s not safe to go back in the water
A total of 294 people drowned across the country in the past 12 months, including 66 in Queensland, with fears “cooped up residents” itching to get to the beach may result in a spike in drownings this summer.
The Royal Life Saving Society and Surf Life Saving Australia figures show a 20 per cent jump in drownings compared to last year.
Of Queensland drowning deaths, 10 were on the Gold Coast, five at the Sunshine Coast, and four each at Port Douglas and Noosa.
Surf Life Saving spokeswoman Donna Wishart said the jump was despite COVID restrictions limiting interstate movement and blocking overseas travel.
“I guess that makes these statistics possibly even more concerning, because these are locals,” Wishart said.
“The fact that our drowning stats have gone up when we’ve not got the usual influx of international tourists and students, perhaps, who have either drowned or had to be rescued … makes these stats even more sobering.”
Wishart said the lifting of wave one of pandemic restrictions towards the end of 2020 corresponded to an increase in rescues and drowning deaths.
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“People had been in lockdown situations and taking advantage of being let loose,” she said.
“Often times they were going to locations they weren’t familiar with, going to places they would not have normally been holidaying or visiting.”
Nationally, there were 25 drowning deaths among children aged below four years, which was a 108 per cent increase on last year.
People aged 25-34 years accounted for 17 per cent of all drowning deaths, the most of any age group.
Men continued to be significantly over-represented, making up about 80 per cent of drownings.
Of the total number of drowning deaths, 136 occurred on coastal waters and 75 occurred in rivers and creeks.
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Rescue-related incidents, often involving rips at unpatrolled beaches, increased by 150 per cent.
SLSA president John Baker said despite COVID, there was an increased desire for people to visit the coast.
“With the inability to travel overseas and interstate, regional areas experienced an influx of visitors and for many people, this meant swimming in unfamiliar locations,” Baker said.
“People’s desire to socially distance, caused many to also seek out more secluded locations where they were perhaps further away from lifesaving services or help.”
The findings also showed there were increased drownings at home with SLSA warning that complacency could seep in when people were exhausted from working from home, home schooling, and spending restricted time in confined spaces.
Stressed out parents may have found themselves distracted or failing to supervise children around water, the report warned.
Royal Life Saving Society Australia CEO, Justin Scarr, said COVID had also seen children missing out on swimming lessons, while adults and teenagers with reduced pool access were no longer swim fit which could also lead to increased drowning incidents in open waterways.
“Royal Life Saving fears that many children will never return to lessons, so won’t meet the fundamental water safety benchmarks, and will miss out on the lifelong benefits of being able to swim,” Scarr said.
Wishart said warmer weather had lifesavers on high alert, with locals and visitors expected to flock to the water.
“We’re really concerned coming out of this current lockdown — there’s a lot of pent-up frustration among people who haven’t been able to travel and see friends,” Wishart said.
“The increase in sales of kayaks and surf skis and all those sort of small watercraft (shows) people trying to get out and do something, recreate in a way that they are able to in lockdown situations.
“We are quite concerned for the season ahead as far as rescues and drownings go.”
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