BATON ROUGE, LA (BRPROUD) – We are about a week into phase one of reopening, and the YMCA is ready to welcome back members.
YMCA President & CEO of the Capital Region Christian Engle says there are some changes you can expect when returning to the gym.
“We’ve done a lot of rearranging of our facilities. We’ve pulled equipment apart, as you can see here, to make sure that everyone is six feet apart. I think we’ve doubled, even tripled up our hand sanitizing and cleaning supplies. So yeah, we’re excited to get everybody back in here, and have them in a safe environment,” Engle said.
Like most places, staff will be in masks and there will be guidelines for members to follow while at the gym.
“The big thing people are going to notice when they come in is that all the staff are going to be wearing masks. A lot of signage on the floor, on the wall, on easels just trying to remind everybody about social distancing and about cleaning,” Engle said.
For all of you swimmers out there yes, the pool is open.
“I’ve opened our pools but only for lap swimmers. You can go to our website there’s a portal where you can reserve a lane or a time. We have them in staggered starts so that if you start on this side someone else will start on the opposite side so we’re never ending up at the same area.”
If you’re looking to take a group exercise class, you’ll have to register ahead of time.
“We’re gonna have a limited group exercise schedule. A lot of our classes will be held in our gymnasiums. That’ll give us a lot of space and a lot of room to socially distance, and same type of thing we’re going to do online registration. You will need to go online and register for your class.”
Engle says when you’re ready, the YMCA is ready to welcome you back.
“We are so thrilled that so many of our members stayed with us during this. It allowed us to do so many things for the community. We are just really excited about welcoming them back.”
To learn more about the rules and guidelines or to register for a group exercise class visit the YMCA’s website.