Says Emmerson Campbell
The conversation for the safe reopening of gyms and fitness centres in Guyana should have started ‘yesterday’.
After six months, sportsmen and women, gym enthusiasts, trainers, gym owners and employees all across the 592 are still clueless as to when the gym doors will reopen.
Gyms all across the United States of America, the country hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, have been reopening their doors as long as they follow required social distancing and other safety protocols.
Why not Guyana?
Guyana has recorded 56 total COVID-19 related deaths to date, America has recorded almost 200,000.
It is worth having a very serious discussion about how to safely reopen gyms here.
I reiterate, gyms in Guyana have been closed for six of the past nine months of 2020 without any clear cut guidelines given for their reopening.
There is honestly no part of me that understands why they have not even had the discussion about the safe reopening of gyms and fitness centres. And I say that not because there is zero risk. There is a risk, but there is risk everywhere we go with COVID-19.
A visit to D’Urban Park on any given day will show large groups of people working out together not observing any of the COVID-19 guidelines.
Why not have workouts done in a safe environment where persons who wish to exercise can follow required social distancing and other safety protocols?
I have always felt that the gyms could be classified as essential businesses and therefore should have been reopened weeks ago, as long strict guidelines are adhered to.
To bolster my argument that a gym is an essential business, I point to the significance of people’s mental health and their physical health both of which are needed to fight diseases. For me, if it has to do with health and fitness, I think it’s an essential business. I recognize that there are some who would not agree.
According to information available online, in China – the alleged source of the pandemic – there has been a gradual reopening of fitness and sports facilities, and in some places, attendances have already built to 80 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
What about Guyana?
In Europe, the continent hardest hit by COVID-19, the Czech Republic was among the first countries to begin to reopen its gyms and clubs, followed by Switzerland, Norway, and Germany. Finland and Sweden, according to reports, allowed gyms to remain open throughout the pandemic with restrictions in place, although some facilities chose to close.
In the UK, gyms and pools reopened late July with strict new guidelines.
I digress.
Th conversation for the safe reopening of gyms and fitness centres in Guyana needs to start today.
