Does anyone know of new outbreaks at gyms?

[gymgal]

This article might be relevant to this topic. It is about fitness gyms rather than gymnastics gyms, but the components are the same - significant exercise indoors. If anything, gymnastics gyms tend to have fewer adults and (in Australia at least) higher ceilings and more natural ventilation) so they should be safer again.

Gyms do not increase risk of COVID infection, study finds

Research carried out in Norway adds to case for health facilities to reopen.

www.smh.com.au

Thanks for sharing.

The difference is that it is easier to social distance in a workout gym, which is the primary concern for the spread of the virus. Not saying it can't be done in a gymnastics academy but a lot more work is needed - more stations that need to be spaced out, no partner drills/conditioning, less numbers in the gym which may mean splitting teams up. Also, gymnasts traditionally are in the gym for longer periods of time upwards of 5 hours/day for an optional gymnast. A lot more time for teammates to be exposed to an asymptomatic person's breathing. Obviously less of an issue due to the vast sq footage of most gyms but still a concern.

 

[gymgal]

Also, the study doesn't state whether masks were used, though the photo shows it. I am not sure how many gymnastics gyms are requiring masks for the gymnasts.

Good to know about gyms though!!! In NC, they continue to be shut down with no true scientific evidence. Pools are allowed to be open though.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Thanks for sharing.

The difference is that it is easier to social distance in a workout gym, which is the primary concern for the spread of the virus. Not saying it can't be done in a gymnastics academy but a lot more work is needed - more stations that need to be spaced out, no partner drills/conditioning, less numbers in the gym which may mean splitting teams up. Also, gymnasts traditionally are in the gym for longer periods of time upwards of 5 hours/day for an optional gymnast. A lot more time for teammates to be exposed to an asymptomatic person's breathing. Obviously less of an issue due to the vast sq footage of most gyms but still a concern.

But you have control of who is in the gym and when. Easier to keep cohorts together so should someone get sick its easier to localize and trace. Easier to limit general contact.

And you have more control of who is there regarding screening.

Personally I think both spaces can be kept safe again as the people are traceabl.

I can’t wait to get back to Planet Fitness. Not worried in the least. I‘m in charge of disinfecting the equipment I use. I could be standing right next to you watching you wipe down the equipment and I will wipe it down again before I use it. Again, they have you sign in so contact tracing is effective. If I go dressed ready to workout and shower at home, limited time in the locker room. Heck I’ll even wear a mask. Still ticked they had to close.

 

[JessSyd]

Of course it is just one study, from a country with relatively low levels of community transmission.

In my country, new cases are currently low enough so that every case is comprehensively contact traced with the goal of pinning down where transmission occurred. Sometimes that is impossible, but they have even started doing genome testing on virus samples to attempt to tie seemingly random cases to known outbreaks. We went through the meat packing plant / nursing home outbreak phase, and hopefully put enough measures in place so that those settings are safe from triggering more clusters.

So now a huge pattern is emerging where the highest risk location (keeping in mind our bars and gyms are low occupancy right now, although mask ) is........family homes.

Most of our recent ‘spike’ is due to transmission on private properties during multi-household family gatherings (with a virus that escaped from a quarantine hotel via a security guard) People find it easy to socially distance from strangers but profoundly difficult to socially distance from loved ones.

Gyms have not been implicated at all. No sport has so far. Even on professional teams where a member tests positive, so far it has only ever been a single team member who caught it somewhere else.

Most gyms here are having people book now (even for non-class workouts), rather than just turning up. That way they can limit numbers and have a record of who was in the gym at any given time.

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

Our gym had a rec coach test positive and a front desk employee test positive in the last week

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Our gym had a rec coach test positive and a front desk employee test positive in the last week

Keep us posted on that one.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Apparently chlorine kills the virus, hence why pools have been allowed to open in places where gyms haven’t.

 

[cp13]

Our gym had a rec coach test positive and a front desk employee test positive in the last week

What state are you in?

 

[ReluctantGymMom]

What state are you in?

Florida

 

[sce]

I know of two gyms in two different states, that closed for a bit due to gymnasts and/or coaches getting COVID. It will happen. The gym may not have been the source of the new infections and they closed out of precaution to avoid spread.

 

[thefellowsmom]

Funny. Where we are, gyms are open and pools are closed ‍ Dd has been back in the gym for 3 weeks and it is going really well. Next week they start limited rec classes back up. Hopefully things remain good. Trying to envision the hearding of cats that will be required of even very small classes of three and four year olds Trying to social distance.

the fitness gym next door is open by appointment with no group classes. Seems to be working well so far.

I have a competitive swimmer who is swimming in the lake right now with his team. This is ok but a couple kids in a lane continuously dipping themselves in chlorine isn’t ok?

Not much makes sense these days.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

Not much makes sense these days.

Yep. The arbitrary decisions are crazy

 

[beachgirl]

Not the gym, but we have 2 public high schools in my town with sports. Both schools sports teams returned to practice last week and now a coach from each school ( in 2 different sports) has Covid and those sports practices have been suspended for the summer.

 

[Aussie_coach]

The problem is, of course, that it is simply impossible to make an individual decision for every business and situation. There are going to be some arbitrary calls everywhere.

 

[LJL07]

Our gym has closed twice over the past two weeks because a team child came in contact with someone who tested positive for covid. It’s getting frustrating from a logistical standpoint. We are going back to “small group” training. Personally due to the spike in our state, I think our gym should keep the small group schedule for the rest of the summer until we are out of phase 2. Even the small groups have 20 kids rotating in groups of 6-7. I think that’s enough kids in the gym at one time. I had no idea until the closures started happening that there were so many kids practicing at one time. Do other gyms have 50 kids practicing in the building at once? I’m curious. I’m sure it depends on location. I know some of this is financially driven, and it’s hard to figure out how to balance that. I’m only able to go into the office two days a week, and it stinks. But no sense in closing every other week due to an exposure.

 

[raenndrops]

I had no idea until the closures started happening that there were so many kids practicing at one time. Do other gyms have 50 kids practicing in the building at once? I’m curious. I’m sure it depends on location. I know some of this is financially driven, and it’s hard to figure out how to balance that.

Pre-Covid, we definitely had more than 50 kids practicing at once. Our entire team shared a practice schedule and there were 64 on team ... but 6 of them were also coaching, so didn't practice full time with the rest of the team - 3 coached team and 3 coached rec classes. Our rec classes overlapped team practice so there could easily have been 80+ in the gym at once.

 

[LJL07]

Pre-Covid, we definitely had more than 50 kids practicing at once. Our entire team shared a practice schedule and there were 64 on team ... but 6 of them were also coaching, so didn't practice full time with the rest of the team - 3 coached team and 3 coached rec classes. Our rec classes overlapped team practice so there could easily have been 80+ in the gym at once.

Oh yes, same. I meant after the quarantine have other gyms had 50 kids practicing at one time?

 

[fuzi]

The most groups we have at any time in the gym currently is 6 (with a max of 8 gymnasts per group). That could put us at 48 kids and 6-12 coaches in the gym at a time. We're limiting it to one group per event (while pre-Covid you might have had two groups sharing beams or three rec classes on floor or one group on "comp bars" and another group on "rec bars"). So far...so good. We're cleaning constantly and maintaining minimum 6-ft distancing. No spotting, no partner work.

 

[JBS]

We have room for 4 groups of 8 right now... this give us 32 athletes... up to 8 staff... and 10 viewing spots if needed. We are trying to stay at 50 total people in the gym or below. I don't think we have hit 40 total people in the gym yet.

 

[RNH]

Our gym has closed twice over the past two weeks because a team child came in contact with someone who tested positive for covid. It’s getting frustrating from a logistical standpoint. We are going back to “small group” training. Personally due to the spike in our state, I think our gym should keep the small group schedule for the rest of the summer until we are out of phase 2. Even the small groups have 20 kids rotating in groups of 6-7. I think that’s enough kids in the gym at one time. I had no idea until the closures started happening that there were so many kids practicing at one time. Do other gyms have 50 kids practicing in the building at once? I’m curious. I’m sure it depends on location. I know some of this is financially driven, and it’s hard to figure out how to balance that. I’m only able to go into the office two days a week, and it stinks. But no sense in closing every other week due to an exposure.

That’s terrible. Sorry to hear. Where are you located? We are bound to have more kids than 50 once the summer gets rolling.