North Bay Gym Owners Make Adjustments Before State Releases Reopening Guidelines
MARIN COUNTY (KPIX 5) -- Gyms, yoga studios and fitness centers may not be open to the public just yet, but during an online meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday, owners made it clear that physical fitness is key to good health.
During the Zoom conference call, fitness center owners were hoping to learn more about guidelines for reopening. The governor didn't offer much in the way of details.
"Guidelines that will be meaningful, that we hope to put out in the very, very near future," said Newsom during the call. "And I say very near future, because I don't want to say next week; but within a week or so."
Many of the gyms are small businesses, like Sonoma Fit. Owner Adam Kovacs said he is prepping with the information that he thinks is coming.
"We're not juts going to clean. We're going to clean as soon as you're done with working or using this piece of equipment, right away," Kovacs explained.
Each piece of exercise equipment is being equipped with a paging transponder. When gym members are done, they will press a button to signal staff to start the sanitizing.
All workout stations are being separated by six feet or more. The spin room is being reduced from 30 bikes to only 12. A special air system has been installed using HEPA 15 micron filters.
Kovacs has had to face even more challenges than some fitness studio owners. His new gym was under construction for 20 months and only opened 18 days before the COVID-19 shelter order forced him to close.
"As soon as we opened, we had to close" lamented Kovacs. "We still have no guidance. I have completely changed and remodeled, so to speak, the layout of our gyms."
He isn't the only one frustrated. Online during the governor's call Wednesday, another gym owner spoke frankly,
"We can't wait. I cannot afford to wait much longer than a week at this stage, because we are literally gasping for air," said the business owner.
While Napa, Sonoma and Solano counties are all ahead of the rest of the Bay Area as far as moving closer to Stage 3 reopening, Marin County has remained with the rest of the Bay Area and opted for a slower pace of relaxing health orders. It is hard to say exactly when these businesses will be able to open their doors again.