Re:Secret gyms and the economics of prohibition
by alicemaz on Wednesday August 19, 2020 @06:37PM
(#24217628)
yea my gyms here (texas) have been really good about this, either mandatory masks or open air, mandatory distancing, wipe everything down (my muay thai gym got like a metal exterminators tank for disinfectant they just spray everything with), etc etc. the article makes the point well, that if you close everything down, people will just do it anyway, so it's better to just have it in the open and under control and punish bad actors when they crop up
local gyms (as opposed to chain/bigbox) tend to be extremely tight-knit communities, which means people want to keep each other safe and will go out of their way to do it, within reason. most people don't care about everyone in their city in abstract, but they do care about members of groups they derive camaraderie from. hell of a lot safer than reopening restaurants, imo
That said I do think it’s possible for gyms to adapt to be covid-safe by moving equipment outside, restricting the max number of people allowed in the exercise area, mandating masks and social distancing, and wiping down every piece of equipment after it’s used. I have seen some gyms doing that in San Jose. But I guess most gyms don’t want to do that even though gyms outside of dense urban area typically have pretty big parking lots they might be able to use with some open-air huts