CALLS TO GET FIT FOR THE COVID FIGHTBACK
Obese at risk as ‘immunity is weakened’
GYMS are key to fighting the Covid-19 pandemic and should be treated as a public service, an industry expert said.
There is no date for fitness centres to reopen but Huw Edwards, chief executive of ukactive, which represents most British gyms, says they are “hugely important in terms of physical and mental wellbeing”.
Under strict safety measures drawn up by ukactive, postlockdown gyms will not look like they did before.
Fewer members will be allowed in at any one time, some equipment will be removed to maintain social distancing and customers must wipe down equipment after use.
Mr Edwards said: “One of our board members, Professor Greg Whyte, did a piece on the fact the health and fitness sector should now be seen as a national service for two reasons.
“In the light of this crisis physical activity and exercise hugely strengthen the immune system.
“The World Health Organisation this week was saying don’t celebrate relaxation, prepare for the next wave, so resilience is important and building up your immune system is going to be important. “Exercise has a key role to play and our sector has a key role to play in that.” Mr Edwards said gyms were also needed to provide community rehabilitation for virus victims.
He said: “These facilities are in the fabric of our communities now and they have to be seen as an extended public service.
“That means that we as a sector need to make sure we are providing that service to the totality of the community.
“And Government’s got to think about people’s health and wellbeing in a way we have never done before.
“This has got to be owned by Number 10 – health and wellbeing agenda has to come from there.” Mr Edwards also warned the UK was in danger of losing essential leisure services due to the financial strain the crisis was putting on gym owners.
Gyms were instructed to close on March 20, shortly before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the national lockdown.
They employ 189,000 people and contribute £3.3billion to the economy.
Mr Edwards said: “They were closed overnight and effectively all those operations went to zero revenue. It has been a very traumatic period.
“You could easily start to see the loss of public leisure in communities across the whole of the UK.
“We know from our polling and the polling that Government and Sport England has done that existing members are really keen to come back in high numbers.
“And the number one physical activity that has been most missed in this period is getting back into the gym.”
Mr Edwards said of ukactive’s safer gym framework: “We are doing a lot of work with our members to show and demystify what that experience will look like.
“To get a look and feel of how facilities will change and be different – but it will be in a way that will be safe and will allow you to get back and work out in the way which is as safe as possible.”
Proposed changes will see only equipment that is 6ft apart used and group classes observing social distancing spaces.
OBESITY can weaken the immune system and make people more susceptible to Covid-19, experts claim.
The number of children admitted to hospital because of obesity or its complications has nearly tripled within a decade.
And for the over-65s it is more than seven times higher, figures have shown.
There were 5,843 admissions for the under-16s and 271,927 for over-65s in England in 2018-19, according to NHS figures.
Tam Fry, chairman of the National Obesity Forum, said: “The figures are a disgrace. Medical and scientific experts expressly warned that obese people were at much greater risk of dying from viral infections.
“They emphasised that a future catastrophe like Covid-19 was a real possibility.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We are determined to tackle the problem of obesity across all ages.”