The PDSC Management Committee have been monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic, including reference to Government and Australian Sailing issued advice on this matter, and we have determined the following response in respect to club activities over the remainder of the season.  Our response is based on both being concerned with the health and safety of our members and also wanting to act responsibly from a community health perspective.

Effective Monday 16th March 2020, Australian Government advice is that gatherings of people should be limited to 500 people in one place/time and the scheduled activities of the club falls under this threshold.  Accordingly at this time, no major change is planned for sailing at the club and club sailing and training will continue as scheduled.  We are also being advised to increase our own personal hygiene and practice social distancing to reduce the likelihood of transmission of the virus and our approach to this is discussed below.

We request that all members for the remainder of this season and until further notice:

• Do not attend any club sailing day, event or function if they or their family members are feeling unwell or are suffering from continued repeated coughing or sneezing.
• Do not attend any club sailing day, event or function if they have been travelling outside of Australia in the previous 14 days or have had direct contact with another person known to have been travelling outside of Australia in the previous 14 days.
• Increase the number of times of and the duration/thoroughness of your hand washing. 
• Sneeze or cough into the crook of your elbow or into a tissue and immediately dispose of the tissue and wash your hands.
• Refrain from handshaking and close personal contact.  Try greeting fellow club members with a fist or elbow bump or similar.

Further measures that we will put in place include the following changes in our practices

• We will provide hand sanitiser in the bathrooms, at the bar and at the shop counter.  Please use some at intervals during your time at the club.
• All shop and bar staff handling cash will be required to wear disposable gloves, which will be provided in the bar and shop.
• All food preparation in the shop and from the BBQ will be required to wear disposable Gloves, which will be provided.
• The plastic cups provided by the club for drinking water will be removed, it is suggested Members use their own Drink Bottles or purchase bottled water from the Canteen
• The club cleaners have been requested to increase their attention to and apply hospital grade disinfectant products to all tables, chairs, bar and shop counters and bathroom surfaces during the weekly club cleaning.

As per advice announced at the club on 14th March 2020, the Paella Night, planned for 21st March 2020 has been cancelled.  Members who bought tickets will be refunded their payments in full. 

Further advice in respect of the planned Senior and Junior presentations will follow in due course.  At this stage we are not planning a change to theses dates/events and we urge you to buy tickets for the events as normal.  We will continue to monitor the situation and will update members as and when this is necessary.

Members are referred to the WA Department of Health information and guidelines which contains a lot of useful information here:
https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/Articles/A_E/Coronavirus or ring the hotline established if you do not have web access on: 1-800-080-020.

The Federal Government website is here: https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/novel-coronavirus-2019-ncov#symptoms

We recommend you keep yourself updated on developments with the COVID-19 as the situation appears to be changing rapidly.

COVID-19 symptoms include: Symptoms are similar to other colds and flus and include: fever, cough, sore throat, fatigue and difficulty breathing.
Members who feel unwell or are concerned for their health, should ring their GP and ask for advice. 
Do not report directly to your GPs surgery without prior contact to your GPs surgery, as this can place others at risk from spread of the virus.

I urge you to get on-board with the above common-sense responses to the situation, so that as a club we can complete the 2019-2020 sailing season keeping all members healthy and safe.

Please contact me directly if you need clarification on any of the above,

Regards,

Clayton Erwin
Commodore
Perth Dinghy Sailing Club
M: 0429 998 119
E: commodore@perthsailing.org.au
W: www.perthsailing.org.au