“It’s going to happen to all of us,”
Dave Finlay, Owner CrossFit in the D
This past weekend Coach Robbie and myself had the opportunity to expand our coaching skill set by attending the CrossFit Level 2 Trainer course. The course was fantastic in many ways, so much learning took place to make us better coaches, but that is not why I’m writing this post today.
Over two FULL days we had the pleasure to interact with CrossFit coaches from all over the United States, mostly local, but some as far away as Michigan, Ohio, and Virgina. The topic that prefaced every conversation was COVID 19. The lectures, coaching evaluations, and general conversation all began with COVID 19 topics. For most of us, this was the first opportunity to see how other gyms were handling the pandemic.
Outbreaks
Before I get to far, I would like to share a recent article from the Morning Chalk Up. “How Two Gym Owners Handled COVID-19 Outbreaks.” This article was one of the first of its kind. Several CrossFit linked groups have written articles regarding COVID 19, mostly dealing with how to prepare, what to do, and how to survive when being shut down. This article, however, is one of the first to talk about what happens when a handful of members test positive for COVID 19.
This has and will continue to be a large concern for any gym operating in group settings. It has definitely been on the fore-front of all of our decision making at Fern Creek CrossFit. We have anticipated this scenario and even with the most robust of precautions, we knew the risk existed for exposure. Was this risk more because of our environment, likely not, as evidence has shown transmission rates in gym settings have been extremely low. but none the less the risk still existed.
In the article, Dave Finley, Owner of CrossFit in the D joked that he probably did everything “too correctly.” We feel this on a high level. Fern Creek CrossFit made a commitment to our members to do everything in our power to protect our members to the best of our ability. Even with voluntary shut downs, communication transparency, staff training and gym protocols, and an over abundance of cleaning and disinfecting we are still faced with positive cases of COVID 19 in our community.
COVID 19 in CrossFit
Back to our COVID 19 discussions with the other coaches. Some are very similar to us with their precautions, actually the majority of the other gyms represented align with our protocols, however some were less restrictive.
COVID-19 Health & Safety Guidelines
We cannot say that being less or more restrictive with our COVID 19 protocols equals fewer positive cases in our community. There are just too many variables. A persons time in the gym is only a small fraction of their day. Members are still interacting outside of our bubble day in and day out, something we cannot control.
“Now, people understand that it really can be coming from anywhere, it’s not as much ‘Oh I got it at this place,’” Nick Beal, owner of CrossFit Casco Bay and CrossFit Casco Bay Undaunted says in the article.
But at Fern Creek CrossFit we echo the sentiments of Dave Finlay, and many others we had the pleasure of chatting with…
I couldn’t even tell you how many thousands of dollars we’ve spent to try to keep things clean: buying equipment to clean things, buying masks, heating the place while the garage doors are open. The people who are coming, they’re getting a clean environment [and] a ventilated environment,
The Goal – Safe and Clean
That is the goal, a safe and clean environment, sparing no cost. We have no clue if we are even getting close to doing the right thing, only time will tell. There was no pandemic playbook, there was no CrossFit Headquarter guidance early on, we just started doing what we felt was the right thing to do.
Our discussion this past weekend with other coaches provided us confidence that we are on the right track. Couple that with positive feedback from our members, we are optimistic that we can and will survive this pandemic!
We are so thankful that you as members continue to support and trust us to be a safe place for you. If at anytime you feel we need to do better please talk with a member of the coaching staff or email [email protected]. We value your opinion, as we are not a community without our people.
