Help convincing California Public Health Department that competitive gymnastics and fitness centers are not the same thing

[californiagymmom]

I am a gym parent in Northern California and our gym recently closed again because of COVID numbers in our county. In California, gyms fall into the category of fitness centers/gyms like 24-Hour Fitness. I have tried many times to explain to government/health dept officials that fitness centers are not the same as competitive gymnastics facilities. I'm not alone--there have been petitions circulated with this same idea, and I've seen other states (WA, NJ) having these types of conversations. If you have had success in convincing your state government that competitive gymnastics facilities can operate safely even with COVID in the community, I would love to hear where you are and what arguments were helpful in making your case. I am so frustrated that where I live, kids' camps and retail stores can still be open, but our gym, which is a huge space, can't even have the competitive teams practicing right now even though it's easy to socially distance within the gym.

 

[doublestrike]

I am a gym parent in Northern California and our gym recently closed again because of COVID numbers in our county. In California, gyms fall into the category of fitness centers/gyms like 24-Hour Fitness. I have tried many times to explain to government/health dept officials that fitness centers are not the same as competitive gymnastics facilities. I'm not alone--there have been petitions circulated with this same idea, and I've seen other states (WA, NJ) having these types of conversations. If you have had success in convincing your state government that competitive gymnastics facilities can operate safely even with COVID in the community, I would love to hear where you are and what arguments were helpful in making your case. I am so frustrated that where I live, kids' camps and retail stores can still be open, but our gym, which is a huge space, can't even have the competitive teams practicing right now even though it's easy to socially distance within the gym.

It’s not the summer camp designation they were using but day camp. It stopped working in LA and enforcement has technically shut down all gyms in L A. Those gyms are working out outdoors or under the radar now. IC and SD counties have less strict enforcement so they are still open. At this point though none can host a meet but hopefully that will change in January but who knows. It’s my understanding that Santa Clara, San Francisco and Alameda are very tight with the rules and would have a tough time opening under any designation this month.

 

[amanda.christine]

What county are you in? My gym is still running practices for teams . They said there was some kind of exemption for training groups of up to X amount of the same people, so they just adjusted the practice times for all the teams so we don't have any crossover.