Gyms get workout
City to do ‘virtual inspections’ before reopening sites
The city is giving a tech-y touch to its efforts to keep gyms safe as they begin to reopen this Wednesday.
The Health Department will conduct “virtual inspections” of gyms to ensure they are following new rules to keep customers and staff safe.
A virtual inspection will consist of a video call between a gym operator and a Health Department worker in which the operator shows their posted safety plan, the site’s supply of face coverings, social-distancing markers, cleaning log, supply of soap and paper towels, designated area for pickups and deliveries and health screening records.
Gyms that fail inspection will have to close until any problems are fixed.
“We will always encourage New Yorkers to exercise and stay active,” said Dr. Dave Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, in a Sunday statement to the Daily News. “But indoor exercise is not without risk. We’re being as innovative as possible with virtual inspections to ensure that fitness center staff are following the safety guidelines.”
State rules require gyms to do daily COVID-19 screenings of customers and staff. While they won’t have to take actual coronavirus tests, they’ll fill out questionnaires about their symptoms, previous testing and exposure to positive cases.
Along with large swaths of city life, gyms have been closed since mid-March.
Even as nonessential workplaces, outdoor dining and other sectors earlier this summer began welcoming workers and customers as part of the city’s phased reopening plan, Gov. Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio held off on giving the green light to gyms, noting that experts consider indoor activity much riskier in terms of coronavirus transmission than happenings outdoors.
“We are certainly going to take a pretty strict stance in the name of preserving our low level of infection we have now in New York City,” Hizzoner said last Monday on NY1. “We want to see jobs come back. We want to see amenities for people. We also have to make sure it’s done safely.”
Gyms can reopen by simply filling out online forms committing to follow rules issued by the state. Those include agreeing to operate at one-third of capacity and mandatory face coverings for everyone inside.
The Health Department plans to inspect 100% of gyms that reopen over the coming weeks.
The city, where gyms will reopen about a week after the rest of the state, is banning indoor fitness classes for now.
Still, businesses that had been complaining of their long closure welcomed the chance to serve the city’s gym rats once again.
“Right now we’re all busy preparing to reopen,” Bill Lia, head of the New York State Fitness Alliance, said last week in a Facebook video. “We will reopen New York gyms right. We will follow the protocols [and] keep our members and staff safe.”
Midrange gym Retro Fitness, which has franchises throughout the city, plans to scan patrons when they enter and exit to keep track of occupancy levels and do temperature checks, among other steps.
“We feel really prepared,” said Retro Fitness CEO Andrew Alfano.