Gyms and fitness centers have 17 pages of guidelines to follow from the state.
On Monday, they were able to resume to normal operating hours. Walking through gyms, you wouldn’t know that they were ever closed for a period of time during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Jamie Mosher remembers.
“Jamie, your favorite muscle motivator, yeah that’s what we do around here. We motivate people," said gym member Mosher.
You’ll find him here at least once a day, probably more.
“I’ve got a couple other gym memberships other places, but I just like coming here. It’s the atmosphere. These are my people man, which is great," said Mosher.
What You Need To Know
- Gyms are able to operate at normal hours on Monday
- They are still capped at 33% capacity
- Planet Fitness says they haven’t had any cases of COVID-19 spreading form one member to another in any of their New York locations
Planet Fitness said that since they’ve opened during the pandemic, they’ve had millions of member check-ins to their facilities, but they haven’t had any cases of COVID-19 spreading form one member to another in any of their New York locations. Jamie said he feels safe doing his exercises there during the pandemic.
“And we’re responsible here, which is great. We’re socially finessed, follow the rules, people have good gym etiquette. They clean up their stuff," said Mosher.
Although there are limits on gyms, it’s better than when they weren’t open at all.
“You couldn’t buy a weight online. You couldn’t borrow one from an aunt, an uncle, a friend. You couldn’t even have garage sales to find weights. So there you are at Walmart, searching around, hoping they got a shipment in that day, and you end up with a 2-and-a-half pound pink weight," said Mosher.
They also have a crowd meter, keeping track of who comes in and out of the club so you can decide if it’s too busy to workout.
“So every single person that comes in, we scan them in, using their barcodes through the app, and it keeps track of everyone that’s in the club so we know who’s in the club, how many people are in the club, so we can keep in capacity, and also let you know if it’s a time you want to work out," said John Hrinda, New York division president of of ECP-PF Holdings Group, Inc., which owns the upstate New York Planet Fitness clubs.
Planet Fitness is hoping Governor Andrew Cuomo will soon change restrictions from 33 percent capacity to 50 percent. While gyms will have expanded hours now, as of Monday morning, gyms are still limited to 33 percent capacity. Meanwhile restaurants are now at 75 percent capacity.