DURBAN - THE FITNESS industry has called on the government to reconsider the number of attendance at the country’s gyms to at least 75% of the facilities’ total capacity.
FitSA, the association of health and fitness clubs in the country, said gym owners were finding it hard to survive as most of the members had decided to cancel their membership. The fitness industry has been operating on 50% of its total capacity since August last year.
FitSA spokesperson Grant Austin said the industry was capable of ensuring physical distancing and believed this was the right time for the government to urgently consider changing the regulations.
Austin said local and international research had shown that fitness centres were not super-spreaders of the Covid-19 virus.
He said the disaster management report from the Garden Route showed that the transmission rate that they picked up from the gyms was only 1%
“That is half of what the report said about the shopping malls as they received 2%, workplace got 11%, 35% in your own home and 42% in large gatherings. This goes to show that we are the safest industry out of them all. It’s only fair that the government reconsider its regulation regarding gyms” he said.
He said since the industry resumed operating, they had been complying with the regulations and following all the protocols.
Austin said it was of vital importance to build the immune system in order for speedy recovery when one contracted the virus. He said the gym did not only help people get fit; it also provided another form of therapy.
According to Austin, the large fitness centres such as Planet Fitness and Virgin Active had been seriously affected as they had big membership bases.
“Such gyms, you find that there are long queues outside, with people waiting for their turn. The shopping malls do not limit the number of people entering their doors, and there is no social distancing,” he said, adding that the industry had experienced a huge amount of job cuts while they, on the other hand, had been working on a loss.
“We wouldn’t want to see more people losing their jobs, the best thing to do is to at least sustain the one that we have by allowing more members to come to the gym.”
Gym fanatics, Lindiwe Mabuza said it was frustrating to always find a long queue outside the gym, especially during the morning and afternoon sessions.
“Gym also closes at 8pm, and you spent an hour while waiting to go in. You end up not doing the whole training session, thus many people have decided to just cancel the gym membership. Honestly, I feel safe at the gym than I do at my workplace, church, or even at the shops,” said Mabuza.
The Mercury