Going back in time the little I have researched and known the Industry was born in Maldives during 1989 with the born of the first commercial fitness center Male’ Fitness Club. From the start in the past 30+ years of history the industry would have lost count of how many fitness centers are operated in the Maldives. (There is no formal standard and platform to register fitness centers)
March 2020 was a historic month for the industry where some of the club owners gathered due to concern of COVID19 and decided to shut down the centers for 7 to 10 days which was later officially called on for a shut down by Health Protection Agency of Maldives and remained closed for about 03 months or more. The financial consequences on the club owners and freelance trainers was heavy. But the industry was resilient and tough and was looking to bounce back after reopening to a new normal.
Fitness centers has been classed as a highly contagious place by the local authorities and is on the list of immediate actions from the opening to new normal at the beginning of July 2020. The actions taken on the fitness centers and freelance trainers have had a lot of mental and psychological effects on many, every surge in COVID19 cases locally the authorities hits at fitness centers and personal trainers immediately! But why is one of the preventive public health sector attacked?
Since the beginning of January I have been very keen to study and know the infection rate in local gyms/fitness centers however there is no concrete numbers which could determine that gyms/fitness centers are the superspreaders. I took time to gather information on some large studies conducted on infection rates and community transmission from fitness facilities by reliable fitness organizations, below are the details.
FINDINGS IN ENGLAND
ukactive is an NGO presenting commercial fitness center and fitness facility to promote health and wellbeing in the region of United Kingdom. The NGO conducted a study from July 25th to August 16 2020, with 1300 fitness facility with 8 million member check-in’s 17 cases of COVID19 was discovered.
FINDINGS IN AUSTRALIA
FitnessAustralia is the largest Industry organization in Australia, which again is one of the governing bodies of Fitness in the region.
The study conducted from 13th July to 13th August 2020, with 423 fitness facilities across New South Wales with 6.23 million member check-in’s 13 cases reported, with zero reported community spread.
FINDINGS IN UNITED STATES
IHRSA (International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association) is the worlds leading industry association partnered with MXM a knowledge transfer company to conduct one of the largest study conducted to understand the transmission of COVID19 through fitness facilities. 2873 Fitness facilities around US participated in the study. 49.9 million check-ins in 2873 Fitness Facilities with 1155 reported cases which is 0.0023% infection rate. The study also states the risk will and can never be zero to any business. Out of the few events which caught the attention of the authorities were just a few superspreader events that occurred which could be managed and controlled with proper safety guidelines in place.
Also the Center for Disease Control (CDC) gathered data and published found no evidence about COVID19 positive and visiting a gym. We should not argue that the study confirmed that gyms are totally safe but it’s an indication that operations of gyms and fitness centers can remain safe with proper safety guidelines and protocols.
I am not deriving a conclusion that gyms are 100% safe, as many of us will agree there is potential danger in every business, even visiting a shop but the limited numbers shows that fitness businesses can operate around safety guidelines, the business can offer safety and confidence to the members.
I am still keen to know numbers gathered by Health Protection Agency (HPA) about the infection rate and community transmission through gym in the Maldives. And also urge authorities to sit down with the Fitness Industry stake holders to come to terms to save many businesses and personal trainers suffering. I do believe every action taken modern days should be subject to data, findings and evidence not simply thoughts.
References:
SOURCE International Health, Racquet, and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA)
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