Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis allows gyms to reopen amid COVID-19. Here’s what to know
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Friday additions to the first phase of his plan to reopen the state amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis, sparked by the respiratory illness COVID-19.
That addition includes allowing gyms and fitness centers to reopen.
During a press conference in Jacksonville, DeSantis said gyms and fitness centers can operate starting Monday. They need to adhere to social distancing rules, as well as sanitize machines and other equipment after use.
Also, restaurants and retail shops can increase their indoor capacity from 25 percent to 50 percent.
Monday’s reopening for gyms and fitness centers comes a week after barber shops and beauty salons were allowed to reopen. Those shops were busy in Manatee County right away.
“They’ve been asking us for weeks to just open,” said One Tribe Fitness co-owner Jessica Currin said about the gym’s roughly 100 members. “I would say, ‘We’re waiting on the governor to give us the go-ahead.’”
Precautions
DeSantis did not specify any other guidelines, but local gym owners in Bradenton are taking precautions to make their gyms a safe place when they reopen Monday.
“Our commitment is to our team and our members,” said Andrew Terman, owner of Fit Crew, 608 19th Ave. W., Bradenton. “So we’ll be going in with a team to pre-clean, disinfect before opening. We have been all along as well, but obviously we’ll follow the strict CDC guidelines.”
Fit Crew boasts a membership of more than 300 with an indoor gym space of 8,000-square feet. That’s also the size of the outdoor gym area at Fit Crew.
Terman said they’ll still offer virtual programs for people wishing to still stay home.
CrossFit Manatee owner David Sheppard said they issued a survey about a week ago to gauge the interest-level of their 137 members.
He said only three said they weren’t ready to return.
Limited capacity
CrossFit Manatee is located at 5645 Manatee Ave. W.
“The plan is to do a limited reopen,” Sheppard said. “We typically, in our bigger classes, will have 15 to 20 people. We’re going to limit it to 10 people. We actually marked off 10-foot by 10-foot squares for each of our members. So they’ll have their own space and there’s social distancing in between those spaces. And then we’re going to have all the equipment in that space for them to use for that day, so they don’t have to go outside of that area.”
Karol Schmidt, owner of Blue Sage Pilates, 1720 Manatee Ave W., Bradenton, said they’re also doing a limited reopening Monday, with one teacher at a time and they’re an appointment-only operation. She said they’re disinfecting in preparation for Monday.
In addition to sanitizing the equipment regularly, Sheppard said they’ll have a pathway with touchless entry and exit.
“Try to minimize contact as much as possible,” Sheppard said. “And just clean, clean, clean, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.”
At One Tribe Fitness, 602 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton, Currin said they’re preparing for Monday’s reopening with a deep clean crew sanitizing their facility.
One Tribe offers only group classes rather than individual workouts. Those classes start at 5:15 a.m.
Currin said they had flipped their business model to doing virtual workouts during COVID-19.
Only a handful of clients are electing to stay virtual.
“Everybody’s on board and already signing up for classes,” said Currin, who noted classes requiring yoga mats or laying on the floor will stay virtual.
Like CrossFit Manatee, One Tribe plans to limit their class sizes to 75 percent of capacity, which is 15 people per class.
“(DeSantis) didn’t really lay out the guidelines as far as what he expects, Currine said. “He just said open, so we’re taking that upon ourselves to ensure that our membership functions as safely as possible inside our space.”
This story was originally published May 15, 2020 at 3:19 PM.
