To keep your same time/day go to the parent portal. There is no automatic renewal so of we don’t hear from you then your baby will be deleted. Should you be in correspondence with Barbara for a class change, NO ACTION is required. Now read on for some Covid 19 facts!

Having spent Saturday afternoon researching stats (see image) and listening to online media briefings we wanted to share a little glimmer of positivity amidst all the speculation and conjecture!

Firstly, a reminder to please, please only seek reference and form your opinions from trusted sources. News sites are sadly not all to be trusted any longer, particularly those that are online only. Whilst we don’t profess to be journalists, we do endeavour to only quote from said trusted sources in all our news items.

Good news fact #1
Can someone please give China a round of applause! Fatalities are down 53% in the last 7 days  as compared the previous week  and confirmed cases have seen a staggering drop of 84%! If that isn’t news to be celebrated then I don’t know what is! (data source: World Health Organisation). The Director General commented on Wednesday that ” China and the Republic of Korea, have significantly declining epidemics” and that “there’s a strong element of controllability in this disease”.

Good news fact #2
The disease is mild in 81% of cases. There are 13 times more cured cases than deaths and that proportion is increasing (source: World Economic Forum). The high risk category remains those with chronic medical conditions and the elderly.

Good news fact #3
Raising the virus status to Pandemic does not make it anymore lethal, simply an acknowledgement that it is has become global, that’s a simple fact.  The Director General of the World Health Organisation states “We believe it will be the first [pandemic] to be able to be contained or controlled. It can be because we have seen progress in countries that have already shown this”.

Good news fact #4
3 months into this virus and there is still no evidence that covid19 can be spread through properly operated and correctly chemically controlled swimming pools (source: Centers for Disease Prevention). “The coronavirus would be inactivated at the levels of chlorine used in swimming pools”. (Pool Water Treatment Advisory Group)

Good news fact #5
Duck and Dive only teach in properly operated and correctly chemically controlled swimming pools 🙂

Good news fact #6
Whilst no-one is immune “little humans” have so far proven to be the “super humans”! All others without respiratory or heart conditions are capable of fighting off the mild symptoms, in the vast majority of cases. (Confirmed cases vs fatalities globally excluding China show a 0.7% mortality rate – (source: World Health Organisation 12/3/20)

Good news fact#7
There is still time to re-book your lessons and there is no current advice to avoid small gatherings or stop going to school, daycare or swimming etc.

Observations
– During these times of uncertainty and speculative journalism, some sound personal judgements need to be made (based on absolute facts from trusted sources). We all need to be careful, observant and concerned for sure but we also need to “smell the roses” and enjoy the safe activities that remain open to us in small groups objectively analysing risks whilst still observing guidelines and rulings of our government.

– We are a small family business that is not benefiting from the Government’s recent stimulus package and call upon our families to remain calm and continue to support us as we are doing for the services and businesses in our personal lives.

– If families are not at risk, do not fall into the high risk category and their children are still attending school, preschool or such things as ballet, church, childcare, then choosing to stay at home or stop swimming would certainly be an ambiguous decision.

Rebooking advice and Guidelines
– We will never knowingly put the health of your child, you, your family or our staff at risk.

– We will, at all times be guided by advice provided by the Federal Government.

-We have increased the level of disinfection at the pools.

– In the event that a Government authority advises us to close one of our pools then we will do as we are told, as should all those in the community. If possible we will certainly consider extending make up lessons through the holiday period and if not will refund any monies in respect of lessons for enforced closure periods.

– There is no question these are worrying times, but together we need to be calm, make sensible responses and accept sound advice from the Health Department.

– As a family ourselves we have already made our decision to work through this come what may. We will cease to shake hands with friends, we have ramped up our hygiene out and about aswell as at home, we are trying not to touch our face (hardest one!) we are helping our elderly parents to do their best to reduce time spent in high risk areas. We are having corona virus free conversations, we are turning off the rolling news, we have every intention of  still going to the gym, pool, netball, rugby and if for any reason they get temporarily closed we will just find somewhere else to get an open air endorphin release 🙂 .

To conclude
We will all get through this.  As Franklin Rooselvelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” (probably spoken like a man with a healthy supply of toilet roll…..)