Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
AREA GYMS COPE WITH PANDEMIC
Capacity restrictions set to ease April 4
A year ago, all the gyms in Pennsylvania were closed. Some doors never reopened. Michael Quarto owner of the West Chester Q Fitness on Wilmington Pike kept going. Still, the pandemic brought hardship.
“It’s been horrible. It’s just been tough,” Quarto said of the shutdowns during the last year.
“I do know our membership has improved starting January. A lot of people are migrating toward our place.”
There is a limit of 200 members. The gym is open 24 hours, seven days a week, and offers personal training.
“My gym doesn’t have any more than five people in there (at any given time),” Quarto said. “We have over 3,000 square feet. So everyone feels pretty safe.”
He said his gym is the exact opposite of most gyms, with fewer members sought.
“I’m always trying to make people feel as comfortable as possible,” Quarto said.
As for the greatest lesson learned in 2020, “We all work too much. I think we’re too serious about work,” Quarto said. “I think the biggest lesson is that you need to be around your family.”
People need to be around people, he said.
Quarto added, “you need to be around your family. If the pandemic makes you stay home and be with your family ... I think that is the greatest ... that people could reconnect with each other, immediately, in the immediate household instead of trying to connect in any other way,” Quarto said that was a good thing, that people were working less and spending more time with their families.
Kylie Lanier of Lincoln University is a personal trainer who works with seniors.
Last year, “I started off at the Y and then I went independent,” Lanier said. “I’m a mobile trainer, so I’ve been going to people’s homes, and senior centers and senior facilities.”
“One day at a time,” Lanier said as for the greatest lesson he learned in 2020.
“I was labeled an essential worker,” Lanier said. “There was a lot of tunnel vision on the COVID, but you and I both know people can pass away from something else.”
His independent business took off last spring and he kept very busy as visits were one-onone with people rather than at group events often last year.
“We will eventually come back together,” Lanier said.
Restrictions ease Easter Sunday
The state ordered the closure of all gyms and other businesses deemed non-essential on March 13, 2020.
For months the gyms remained closed to the public.
In the spring and summer, restrictions were eased and folks could work out again, wearing masks when indoors as required by the state. By the fall, new restrictions were imposed through the holidays.
Gov. Tom Wolf announced on March 15 he is lifting some restrictions on restaurants and gyms, as well as decreasing the limits on gatherings beginning Easter Sunday, April 4.
Presently, since Jan. 4, gyms, indoor malls, bowling, arcades, indoor sports, go-kart, pool halls, as well as restaurants have been able to operate at 50 percent occupancy.
The state today also allows health and wellness businesses to serve guests at up to 50 percent occupancy. Customers can enter by appointment only, according to the Wolf administration. This applies to spas, barbershops, hair and nail salons, saunas, tattoo parlors, massage therapists and other personal care service businesses.
‘Every day is getting better’
“Don’t underestimate the ability of a community to come together in a time of need,” said Kim Cavallero, vice president of marketing for the YMCA of Greater Brandywine. “Things change rapidly and we have to think outside the box. We’ve been inspired by our team’s ability to do this.”
“When businesses were shut down last March, we began offering our group exercise
classes virtually,” Cavallero said. “This is something we had always wanted to do, but the pandemic made it something that we needed to do immediately in order to continue our mission of strengthening all in our community. So we did. We started with our instructors offering classes literally from their back porches and living rooms.”
Today, Cavallero said, the Y offers a studio with a ton of live and on-demand classes every week.
Concurrently, “When the shutdown occurred, we identified needs in our community and began responding — organizing food drives, blood drives, delivering internet hotspots to ensure students who didn’t have internet access could access their virtual learning and more. Last summer, when schools began discussing virtual learning, we partnered with parents and school districts to see how we could help,” she said.
Cavallero added, “Within a matter of weeks, we safely opened learning centers in our branches to support families in our community who needed care for their children during the school day.
“Every day is getting better,” she said.