HEADED BACK TO THE GYM?
Gyms are germ riddled spaces even without a superbug like Covid-19. If you’re a fan of fitness though, chances are you see them as a necessary evil or even think of them as a welcome home away from home. So when your local gym reopens will you go back? In a recent Sport England/Savanta ComRes survey, gym membership was the go-to form of exercise for a large swatch of the UK. In that same survey, 87% of UK gym members reported they are likely to return to their local gym when it reopens. Maybe the
question you need to ask yourself is should you go back? There are some basic facts to consider.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who contracted and recovered from coronavirus in April; "We are going to be driven by the science, the data and public health. I must stress again that all of this is conditional, it all depends on a series of big ifs. It depends on all of us – the entire country – to follow the advice, to observe social distancing, and to keep that infection rate down."
Government guidelines in the states, where gyms are already reopening, recommend gyms “adhere to strict physical distancing and sanitation protocols.” However, even under strict sanitation protocols, the question remains; can facilities where people congregate to sweat and breathe heavily in confined spaces, using shared equipment, actually be safe during this coronavirus pandemic? The answer to that long wordy diatribe is that it depends on whom you ask.
First and foremost check in with health experts. Dr. Lena Wen, MD and ER physician, visiting professor of public health at George Washington University, and
former Baltimore city health commissioner in the state of Maryland, emphasizes the risks from heavy breathing in a confined space are simply too great right now. Hell I knew that at least I thought it.
Okay so I’m not a doctor…I do realize we should be listening to the experts. I also know that a lot of people are getting antsy to get back to their routines. So what are the chances of getting sick from your workout? Actually they can be risky. While UK gyms remain closed, in the states gyms are opening now. What will be the outcome? “It doesn’t make sense that indoor gyms are included in the first round of reopening in the states,” says Leana Wen, MD, an ER physician.
Even a downward trend in Covid-19 cases doesn’t mean that a gym workout is safe according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control). CDC guide lines state that only
after near-zero incidence of documented cases for a 14-day period should gyms even consider reopening. Katherine Baicker, PhD, dean at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy says let’s take a closer look at factors that determine the
riskiness of a particular place or activity, such as how close people are to each other and for how long they are in contact and how many people come into contact in a
particular place and whether they are touching common surfaces.
On the plus side, using anonymized cellphone data, Baicker and her colleagues found gyms have fewer visitors per square foot than restaurants. Yay! … but gym visitors linger, increasing the chance that they’ll interact and speed the virus. Boo! Hey over there in the corner, no French kissing! Now that’s lingering. Of course that’s not really happening though it could… but it won’t.
UKactive, a fitness trade body has submitted a roadmap for reopening gyms in the UK which has been enthusiastically received by the government. New safety measures could include limited capacity, 2m between equipment and temperature checks at the door. In other parts of the world, such as Hong Kong, gyms and leisure centres have begun to re-open. What will be the outcome?
Once gyms do open in your area, if you do decide to go to the gym, you can reduce your risk in a few ways. (1) Find a place that offers an outdoor space for working out, though this may be impractical in many places. (2) Stay out of that sweaty petrie dish you know as the locker room and most importantly; (3) if you can’t find open ventilation or there isn’t an outside area then you should ask yourself is there a home option I could be considering? The answer of course is yes you can put a home workout plan together. However, if home is a tiny flat think about training in the park or using local trails. Weigh your options. What can I be doing at home now? And then ask yourself; should I or shouldn’t I? That is the question.
-Greg Philippi
(Author, Improviser)