CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Starting Monday May 18, members of the YMCA of the Coastal Bend can begin coming in to work out again. Staff will be taking extra safety and health measures starting with only making every other exercise machine available to make sure people are practicing social distancing.
“We have hand sanitizer and disinfectant available for members at all of the cleaning stations, we also have our maintenance staff that’s walking around and cleaning after each machine is used,” said Victoria Sookiasian, Wellness and Membership Director of the YMCA in Corpus Christi.
The YMCA is warming up for it’s reopening and like many gyms in Texas they’re taking extra measures to make sure members can get back to pumping some iron while still staying healthy.
The first change you’ll see at the Y is the amount of people inside. Maintaining a 25% capacity means you’ll only see about 77 people inside the facility at a time.
“We are also screening all of our members as they’re coming in so you do have to get your temperature checked at the front door,” said Sookiasian.
“They’re not required to wear masks or gloves while they’re in here but they can if they want,” said Richard Schmidt, Chief Volunteer Officer of the YMCA Board of Directors. “Also our staff will wear gloves and a mask while they’re here.”
Schmidt says for the time being, members will have to limit the time they spend at the YMCA to 2 hours a day to give everyone a chance to use the facility.
Group classes will be up and running again, but they’ll be more limited than they usually are, and they’ll be available on a ‘first come first, serve basis’.
Virtual group classes will still go up online for members who want to keep working out at home.
Schmidt says in order to follow the reopening guidelines set out by governor Greg Abbott, the showers and lockers rooms will have to stay closed, and they won’t be offering towel services.
But, the pool is set to reopen on Tuesday May 19th., and if Covid 19 cases continue to go down, the YMCA hopes to reopen completely in the coming months.
“Our hours are going to be the same as they used to be,” said Schmidt. “We are eager to get it open and I know that [members] are eager to come too.”
Also, earlier this year, the YMCA of the Coastal Bend suffered a fire that wiped out the entire men's locker room. The board president says it has been reconstructed and they’re hoping to have it open in the next month or two.