Gyms are safer than bars and restaurants, and this distinction could be vital to your health
Aug 13, 2020
Although it has become common to group the three businesses together, there is compelling evidence to suggest that gyms who practice COVID safety protocols—and especially Midtown—are much safer environments. As we define our new (hopefully temporary) normal as a society, this distinction will weigh heavily on our public, and personal, health.
By Alex Schwartz
It’s been a common refrain heard from news anchors, social posts, and even politicians during the COVID era. It’s a dreaded, echoed start to lots of sentences lately.
“Bars, restaurants, and gyms…”.
The sentence that follows is almost never good news. But there is a problem with this grouping of businesses. One of them is not like the others.
From what we’ve learned about the nature of COVID, gyms operate in a safer way than bars and restaurants. And Midtown, even more than other gyms, is distinctly safe compared to bars and restaurants. Drawing this distinction is more vital than ever, because in a world focused on health, we can’t lose touch with the places that keep us healthy.
We have members, not customers.
This distinction is very important. Like employees of a club, members who regularly use facilities get regular communication on safety protocols and cleaning expectations, unlike the less frequent visits by customers to other businesses. There is also a shared sense of community and responsibility that our members take seriously. In surveys our members have completed in the last month, we score a 9.6 out of 10 on club cleanliness. Here are some examples of their responses:
"Very impressed with the cleaning crew and what you did to upgrade the club for COVID."
"I have complete confidence that the club is far safer than practically any other public space I enter."
"I have suggested to many friends at other gyms that this is the safest and cleanest place to work out since reopening."
Midtown can also better contact trace than most businesses. Because our clubs have usage records, we can determine when and where our member was at the club, and whom they may have encountered during their visit. Equally relevant is that our members are already health-conscious in the first place. As a result, they are far more likely and willing to comply with protocols to avoid the spread of COVID-19. There may be no other business where patrons are wired to act as responsibly as in our clubs.
Science shows responsible club usage doesn’t contribute to spread.
A study in Oslo, Norway conducted when gyms re-opened followed over three thousand individuals who regularly attended a gym. During the course of the study there were exactly zero COVID infections traced to gym use.
In late July, a study of 135 fitness clubs researched COVID contact tracing from 3,443,123 total check-ins. There was a positive case report of 0.004%.
These results were based on clubs, like Midtown, that followed new safety guidelines including mask usage and social distancing. Midtown, however, has gone above and beyond these basic, but hugely effective, cleaning protocols.
We’ve installed hospital-grade safety technology and cleaning protocols.
This is what makes Midtown truly different from not just bars and restaurants, but also other gyms. During the COVID shutdown, we invested in new cutting-edge cleaning technology. AirPHX is the crown jewel of the new tech—an advanced air cleaning machine that we installed to cover nearly every square foot of our clubs. Take a look at our airPHX one-pager below for an overview of the science and results.
Good personal health is good public health.
Unlike bars and restaurants, we are vital to enhancing your personal health. Absent a vaccine or proven medication, our own immune system is the best defense we have. Healthier people – even if they catch COVID-19 – are less likely to need hospital care, which helps keep pressure off the hospitals and medical staff. Health and fitness clubs are not only critical to millions of people for physical wellness, but also for their mental health. People who are physically and mentally healthy will have a much stronger ability and higher probability to handle this virus on their own without the need for additional medical assistance. There is even preliminary research that regular exercise before infection greatly reduces the likelihood of life-threating complications from COVID.
In summary, health clubs, and Midtown particularly, are safer environments than bars and restaurants. Our members are committed to our new standard of clean. There is scientific research that suggests even basic cleaning protocols in gyms are highly effective. And the ICU-inspired cleaning technology at Midtown is proven to greatly reduce COVID virus in the air and on surfaces.
As we work to define our new normal with COVID, it is important we keep these facts in mind—because our collective health has never been more important.