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It’s been a challenging time for us all but we’re prepared ANDY THOMPSON ON REOPENING OF GYMS
FOOTBALL fans were told yesterday they will be able to get back into grounds to support their team from next month.
Crowds in limited numbers will be able to cheer on their heroes from September 14, after lockdown easing measures were announced by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon yesterday.
Gyms, leisure centres and swimming pools will be able to reopen ahead of schedule on August 31.
And bingo halls, casinos, snooker halls and amusement arcades can start back up with physical distancing and hygiene measures in place as of August 24.
But the SNP leader cautioned that while some changes would take place in the short-term, Scotland must remain in phase three of the four-step route map out of lockdown as Covid still posed a “threat” to society.
Gyms and leisure centres were originally pencilled in to reopen from September 14 but Sturgeon said that date had been brought forward given “the wider physical and mental health benefits”.
Revealing indicative dates for future reopenings, the First Minister said from September 14 “sports stadia will be able to reopen, though only for limited numbers of spectators and with strict physical distancing in place”.
Some safety pilots of professional sports events may take place before then, she said.
Andy Thompson, chairman of the Anytime Fitness chain which owns seven gyms in Scotland, said: “It’s been a challenging time for us all but we’ve been preparing throughout lockdown to help our clubs introduce the necessary social distancing and cleanliness to keep our members safe and healthy.”
Indoor contact sports activities, entertainment sites and cultural venues – such as theatres and live music venues – can reopen from September 14, and wedding and civil partnership receptions and funeral wakes can have more attendees, although numbers will remain restricted.
A date has not been set for the reopening of non-essential call centres and offices, with home working remaining in place.
Any such would “significantly increase the risk of indoor transmission” and “make it more difficult to keep schools open”, Sturgeon added.
She said: “This does come down to difficult judgments about priorities. We have made clear that our priority is to enable children to be safely back at school. And with the virus at its current levels, that means we cannot do everything else we would like to do.”
There was a boost for holiday-measures
makers when the Government announced those returning from Portugal would no longer have to quarantine as of Saturday.
The news came as Austria, Croatia, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago were added to the quarantine list, meaning anyone travelling from those countries to Scotland will need to self-isolate for 14 days.
Sturgeon yesterday announced an intention to give new powers to police and local authorities to deal with alerts and breaches of the rules.
She said: “The Scottish Government has powers under emergency legislation to issue directions in respect of a class of premises – for example, to close all pubs in a particular postcode.
“We intend to give local authorities the power to act in respect of individual, specific premises that are breaching guidelines and risking transmission of the virus.”
This power would enable councils to close premises or to impose conditions on their opening.
Police will be able to break up house parties as they “pose a very real risk of clusters and outbreaks”.