As you are all aware, the world is currently dealing with Novel Coronavirus (“COVID-19”). The World Health Organisation declared this a pandemic as at 12/3/2020.

How COVID-19 Spreads (issued by WHO – 3 Mar 2020)
“When someone who has COVID-19 coughs or exhales they release droplets of infected fluid. Most of these droplets fall on nearby surfaces and objects – such as desks, tables or telephones. People could catch COVID-19 by touching contaminated surfaces or objects – and then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. If they are standing within 1m of a person with COVID-19 they can catch it by breathing in droplets coughed out or exhaled by them. In other words, COVID-19 spreads in a similar way to flu.

Most persons infected with COVID-19 experience mild symptoms and recover. However, some go on to experience more serious illness and may require hospital care. Risk of serious illness rises with age: people over 40 seem to be more vulnerable than those under 40. People with weakened immune systems and people with conditions such as diabetes, heart and lung disease are also more vulnerable to serious illness.”

What we need to do

Squash Illawarra is actively monitoring the situation as it is rapidly evolving. We as a squash community need to be active and alert in doing all we can to assist in the prevention of the spread of COVID-19. To keep everyone safe, we are recommending a number of precautions to ensure the continued health of all, squashies and non-squashies.

We will require your assistance during this period.

These are our recommendations and precautions for our Squash community:

1. If you’re sick or unwell consider if you should stay at home to contain any spread of illness – squash can wait a week.
2. Increase the use of hand sanitiser at home or out and about. It would be great if centres/clubs can increase the distribution of sanitiser or wipes.
3. Ensure basic hygiene around washing hands.
4. On the court – do not shake hands, use another form of acknowledgement e.g. foot tap.
5. Do not share racquets or towels.
6. Sanitise the ball between matches and your own hands between matches after touching the ball.
7. Centres should ensure bathroom facilities are cleaned more regularly and that court door handles are sanitised regularly.

We will continue to monitor the situation.

Thanks for your assistance!