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Pool Mandate for Minnesota Clubs

January 14, 2021

In Minnesota we look forward to our outdoor activities but we are just as anxious to get into our clubs and dive into the warm water of an indoor pool. With the reopening of gyms in Minnesota, there were new guidelines for the pool openings as well. The biggest point we want to make is that “If a pool is located within a place of public accommodation with limited occupancy, such as a fitness center, the occupants of a pool must be counted toward the overall occupancy of the place of public accommodation”.  We addressed the Facility Capacity guidelines in an earlier post. It is the goal for those guidelines to continue to improve allowing more patrons into our facilities at any given time. At this time, MN is allowing a max of 25% capacity with a cap of 150 persons.  Always check with your local government for current guidelines!

The response we got from the NIHCA Networking group was divided on Open Swim. Open swim is harder to regulate social distancing. Where social distancing requirements are stricter, some facilities who are offering open swim are doing so by reservation only.

Here is the link to the Minnesota pool reopening dated 1/6/21, https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/coronavirus/poolreopen.pdf. Please be sure to check your local government pages for guidelines!

Sign postings are a great reminder to your members for guidelines of social distancing and masks. From visiting with our members, we recommend word of mouth. Talk with your members, visit with them and have a conversation. We have found more and more understanding people over the last few months. Again, we are all trying to do our best; with a smile and good attitude we can work together to come out of this stronger.

Health & Wellness NIHCA Knows Erica NIHCA , , ,

Locker Rooms/Showers for Gyms in Minnesota

January 14, 2021

We may have all heard the term “social distancing” enough to last us a lifetime but that doesn’t mean our facilities should loosen up on guidelines offered by your government, local health departments or the CDC. One of the big questions we have heard is, “How are you managing the social distancing in your locker rooms and with your showers?”  We recommend you ALWAYS check with your local government pages as to the current mandates and recommendations.

If you are in need of some creative solution when your locker rooms and showers are not able to be open, these are what some facilities are doing:

  • Set up temporary changing stations on the pool deck to allow safe space for their members.
  • Encourage the member(s) shower on pool deck to rinse off, before and after using the pool.
  • Recommend to your patrons to shower at home before and/or after when possible.
  • If you have your locker rooms and showers open, please consider increasing the sanitizing and disinfecting procedures throughout the day.

We have found that facilities are posting rule reminders throughout their buildings as well as within locker rooms and they are not finding any issues arise with members violating the social distancing “rules”.

Do you have creative solutions at your facility if your locker rooms or showers have not been able to open? Email us at rewards@nihca.org with your solutions or a future question you would like addressed.

 

Webinar Holly

FREE Webinar ~ Jan 26th @ 11amCST

What do you need help with at your club for 2021?

This webinar will be an open forum, a live Zoom call, for all NIHCA clubs that need help or want some answers to their questions, as they crawl out of the covid chaos. It’s new year and now more than ever, we need help to get our members to come back. How do we do that? What else is being challenging within your facilities that you need help with?

Karen Woodard is going to be live for 60 minutes, taking all of your questions, while we network with the entire all the webinar participants on creating Key Priorities for 2021!

Email to Sign up

Blog Erica NIHCA , , ,

What is NIHCA Knows?

January 13th, 2021

Have you heard the buzz? We have a new way of sharing information with you!  NIHCA Knows is a new blog-based platform to keep you updated on what is working for other clubs/fitness facilities in the NIHCA network. Think of it as a library of resources for various questions like salaries, square footage, age requirements, policies and procedures, etc.  We will address questions from our facilities and write a searchable blog for you to review, 24 hours a day. You will be able to search keywords to find the most recent and relevant content on a given subject.

We have had great success sharing information among our Networking Group and would like to offer that information to you, as a NIHCA member!  If you have a topic you would like addressed, you can email your request to rewards@NIHCA.org. The goal is to have a new NIHCA Knows topic/question to post on the NIHCA.org website at least once a month.

We are already building the library! Check it out and bookmark it for easy reference, https://nihca.org/membership/nihca-knows/.  You will notice that right now, we are focused on a lot of the mandates that have been placed on our clubs in Minnesota. While not all of our members are in Minnesota, a good majority are within the state. It is our hope that what we are finding here may help facilities across the nation as we all continue to grow and learn during this ever changing environment. We look forward to restrictions being lifted across the country but until that happens we here at NIHCA will focus on sharing ideas and resources to assist you.

NIHCA Knows Erica NIHCA , ,

Facility Capacity Mandates in Minnesota for Gyms and Fitness Facilities

January 12, 2021

Our NIHCA Networking Group asked how the total capacity is being interpreted with the new mandates in place.

In Minnesota, the gyms were closed again in late November and early December. Since reopening, there have been greater restrictions on the max occupancy at any given time. This restriction is on a rolling basis; meaning, that at any one time there cannot be over 150 persons in the entire facility or max of 25% capacity.  For Example: if you have a smaller facility with a max capacity of 150 persons then at this time you cannot have more than 37 persons at one time. The restriction is based on the facility and not on individual spaces.

Please verify with your state regarding capacity restrictions during this time as well as proper social distancing.

As of 1/10/21 in Minnesota

        • 9 foot distance between machines and people
        • Classes are now at 25 people with distancing observed

We will continue to repeat that this is an ever changing environment. We too look forward to the restrictions being lifted not only in Minnesota but throughout the country.

Follow the link for the Minnesota’s Stay Safe Plan, https://mn.gov/covid19/stay-safe/stay-safe-plan/index.jsp.  Be sure to check your local government pages for guidelines.

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