Epi+Center Rescue 

BY MEGAN MCCLUSKEY 

MAY 18, 2020 1:38 PM EDT

Lifeguarding has always been a high-risk job. But amid the coronavirus pandemic, those who work to protect beachgoers are facing a new level of danger.

From stubbed toes to cardiac arrests, open water lifeguards are trained to act as first responders for all manner of medical emergencies that can happen at the beach, often putting them in close proximity to beach patrons. And when it comes to making water rescues, they sometimes come in direct physical contact with people who might be spitting up water or gasping for air — an aspect of their job that’s raising new concerns due to the ways that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, spreads. Lifeguards from places across the country who spoke to TIME expressed concern that the unique nature of lifeguarding will lead to a high level of risk of exposure to coronavirus this summer. They say that although they are working to minimize that risk, the fact remains that many protective precautions are useless in the water.

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With Memorial Day — the May holiday weekend that marks the start of the summer season at many U.S. beaches — swiftly approaching, lifeguard patrols are doing what they can to try to ensure that their employees will be equipped to do their jobs without risking exposure to the virus. Unfortunately, with the prospect of crowded beaches and the dangers of water rescues in the mix, there doesn’t yet seem to be a foolproof method to guarantee lifeguards protection from infection.

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Effective coronavirus safety measures are particularly complicated given that,according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as many as 25% of people infected with the virus may not show symptoms. Cary Epstein, the owner of professional lifeguarding service Epi-Center Rescue and a longtime lifeguard at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y., says that this statistic requires lifeguards to operate under the assumption that everyone they come in contact with on the beach is infected. “There are people who are symptomatic and people who are asymptomatic, so there’s no way to look at someone and judge whether they’re a carrier of the coronavirus,” he says. “We need to assume that every person we come in contact with has the virus [and interact with them as such].”

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As states like Delaware, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey are set to open some state beaches in time for Memorial Day weekend, Epstein says that lifeguards will likely need to be supplied with more personal protective equipment (PPE) on a daily basis than they have been in the past. Although basic lifeguard first aid kits typically include some PPE like surgical gloves and safety goggles, he says that N95, surgical or other protective face masksrecommended by the CDC to combat the spread of coronavirus aren’t a frequent fixture. Reassessing these types of safety protocols is a top priority for lifeguard patrols across the country right now, Epstein says. 

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“That’s what we do”

Of course, when lifeguards need to rush to the aid of a swimmer who is struggling in the water, PPE that works on land isn’t applicable. “There’s this whole other issue of how do we have the same conversation [about safety] when we talk about making water rescues. Because that’s what we do,” Epstein says. “Of course we respond to emergencies on the beach, but lifeguards make water rescues, and N95 masks and surgical gowns and whatever other personal protective equipment you can think of to use on land can’t be used in the water.”