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Home » Exercise Programs » Gyms prepare to reopen with mandatory masks, spaced equipment and limited capacity – Times Herald-Record

Chris McKenna|Times Herald-Record

Gyms re-open with new safety measures

Members were happy to return to their workouts at Powerhouse Gym in Nanuet

MONROE - The weight-lifting stations and treadmills are all spaced at least six feet apart now, lugged into place by a moving company this summer. Disinfectant spray bottles are set up on table near the front desk. Signs on the walls tell members and staff how many people are allowed in each area.

The South Orange Family YMCA is ready to open its doors for inside activities on Wednesday for the first time in nearly six months as gyms and fitness centers across New York return to life after a long dormancy. They areone the last types of businesses the state has allowed to reopen after being shut down for the virus pandemic.

It will not be business as usual.

Gyms may operate at no more than one-third of their normal capacity to avoid crowding. Customers must wear masks at all times and stay six feet apart. Water fountains and communal showers are off limits. Indoor group classes may be forbidden if county health officials so choose.

The Middletown YMCA and its nine-year-old branch in Monroe have made the needed adjustments and will reopen on the same day. Both had a leg up on the distancing-and-disinfecting drills of the new era because they have run certain programs for months, starting with child care for essential workers and then permitted activities such as outdoor yoga and spin classes in Monroe and swimming in Middletown.

"I feel very confident reopening because we've been doing this for the last four, five months," Ross Miceli, chief operating officer of the Middletown YMCA, said Friday during a tour of the Monroe facility.

The YMCA also ran three summer camps at half capacity in Orange County that served about 375 childrenand had no COVID-19 cases, Miceli said.

The Monroe YMCA now has MERV-13 air filters, as required by the state to avoid spreading the virus indoors through airborne droplets. The YMCA hadn't planned on requiring its members to wear masks, since many said they didn't want to when surveyed, but the state made masks mandatory in its reopening rules this month.

About 50 gyms and fitness centers in Orange County have asked the county Health Department for approval to reopen, which requires that they be inspected no later than two weeks after reopening to ensure they meet state guidelines. Sullivan County has five gyms requesting inspections. Ulster County had inspected 22 and had five more to go as of Friday.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced reopening rules for gyms on Aug. 17, several days after roughly 1,500 gym owners across New York sued him to reopen and demand compensation for losses they sustained during the shutdown. Cuomo had said earlier that gyms were found to be a source of virus spread in other states and would stay shut.

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Cuomo's order let gyms begin reopening on Aug. 24 if they met all requirements, but allowed counties to postpone the openings until Sept. 2 to leave time for inspections.

During the YMCA tour in Monroe on Friday, Miceli and Ellen Beadle, the executive director, showed the precautions the gym is taking when members return next week.

Each member takes a disinfectant spray bottle when they enter and returns it when they leave, so it can be cleaned for the next user. Each piece of equipment is cleaned three times before someone uses it: by the departing and arriving users, and by a staff member. Workers will monitor each area to clean and make sure capacity limits are met.

The full gym is limited to 139 people, one third of the normal capacity of 421.

The YMCA laid off about 300 workers in Middletown and Monroe during the pandemic, and has brought many of them back as it prepares to reopen. Miceli said the organization endured financial losses like other gyms, but has a devoted membership that continued paying dues and it drew income from activities other gyms don't offer.

"We're more of a community center, I think," Miceli said.

Throughout the shutdown, the YMCA has continued work on a long-planned expansion of its Monroe facility with no interruptions except at the outset of the pandemic. The 20,000-square-foot addition will add a four-lane pool, a gym and other amenities, nearly doubling the size of the operation. The pool is expected to be done by January.

cmckenna@th-record.com

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Gyms prepare to reopen with mandatory masks, spaced equipment and limited capacity - Times Herald-Record

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Home » Exercise Programs » Gyms prepare to reopen with mandatory masks, spaced equipment and limited capacity – Times Herald-Record