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Gyms in the Portland area, which have been operating under severe restrictions since November, can reopen for indoor workouts for up to 50 people, starting Friday.
COVID-19 infections are down sharply in the state, so Oregon said on Tuesday it was preparing to move a dozen counties to a lower level of risk classification – including the three closest counties. from Portland.
In Oregon’s larger counties, restaurants and bars can now resume indoor service and gyms can dramatically increase the number of members allowed indoors.
Fitness centers were among the hardest hit by Oregon’s trade restrictions, which halted indoor workouts across much of the state last November, as coronavirus infections skyrocketed .
Health clubs said the restrictions threatened their survival and pressed the state to relax the rules, with limited success. Governor Kate Brown eased restrictions on gyms a bit last month, allowing six patrons to enter inside.
Then on Tuesday, Brown’s office announced that 10 counties were falling out of the “extreme risk” classification. According to state rules, that means gyms can accommodate up to 50 people indoors, or 25% of their capacity, whichever is smaller.
“This is an important milestone that will provide much needed increased access to health and fitness facilities in many of Oregon’s most populous counties,” said Jennifer Sitton of the Oregon Health & Fitness Alliance, who formed last fall to lobby against the governor’s shutdown. order for gyms.
However, Sitton said the new rules only provide moderate relief to large gyms, as some of Oregon’s largest fitness clubs measure hundreds of thousands of square feet.
People who train in gyms should always wear masks most of the time and stay away from others in the facility.
The science around the spread of the coronavirus is still in its infancy. There is evidence from the onset of the pandemic that gyms were high-risk places before masks were widely adopted.
Gyms and sports enthusiasts, however, note that fitness clubs offer well-documented health benefits by encouraging people to exercise. Gorge Athletic Clubs owner Dianna Risley said she and other gym owners are frustrated the governor hasn’t consulted them on his terms and exasperated that his rules keep changing.
“I think she got a lot more perspective than needed because she wasn’t consistent with the information and she wasn’t transparent,” Risley said. It has gyms in Hood River and The Dalles.
Hood River County’s may open more on Friday as it moves into a low-risk category, but The Dalles’s remains under the tightest limits.
“We believe the pandemic is real. We understand when they tell us how the pandemic is spreading, ”Risley said. “And we want to be asked, what can we do to operate safely?”
Counties in the “high-risk” category typically have fewer than 200 cases per 100,000 people over a two-week period, companies qualify to welcome customers inside. Counties with fewer cases per capita may increase the number of people allowed inside.
Fourteen counties remain in the “extreme risk” ranking, including Benton, Marion and Yamhill. Courthouse Club Fitness in Marion County has been the most vocal opponent of Oregon’s restrictions on gyms. It continued to operate despite the governor’s shutdown order in November and was fined $ 90,000 that month and a record $ 127,000 in January.
Counties dropping out of the “extreme risk” category on Friday are Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Deschutes, Hood River, Klamath, Linn, Morrow, Multnomah and Washington.
The counties still subject to the most severe “extreme risk” restrictions are Benton, Coos, Crook, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Lane, Malheur, Marion, Polk, Umatilla, Union, Wasco and Yamhill.
– Mike Rogoway
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