Is it safe to return to the gym? As more and more communities relax their stay-at-home orders to reduce the spread of the new coronavirus, gyms have begun to reopen even though the virus continues to infect thousands of people every day.
To learn more about the gym and the risks of exposure to the coronavirus, I talked with clinicians, researchers, engineers, and gym owners in Atlanta. The gym’s newly reopened facilities cater to nearby disease control and prevention to a certain extent. The needs of scientists at the center. What follows is their expert consensus on whether, when, and how best to safely return to the weight room, cardio equipment and classes, including information on which gym wipes are effective, which equipment is the dirtiest, how to maintain social distancing on a treadmill, and Why should we put a few clean fitness towels on our shoulders during the whole exercise.
By its very nature, sports facilities such as gyms are often prone to bacteria. In a study published earlier this year, researchers found drug-resistant bacteria, influenza viruses and other pathogens on approximately 25% of the surfaces they tested in four different sports training facilities.
“When the number of people you exercise and sweat in an enclosed space is relatively high, infectious diseases can easily spread,” said Dr. James Voos, chair of orthopedic surgery at the University Hospital Cleveland Medical Center and chief team physician, said the Cleveland Browns and the research team. Senior author.
Gym equipment is also very difficult to disinfect. For example, dumbbells and kettlebells “are high-contact metals and have strange shapes that people can grasp in many different places,” said Dr. De Frick Anderson, a professor of medicine and director of the Duke University Center for Antimicrobial Management and Infection Prevention. His team at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina consulted the National Football League and other sports teams on infection control issues. “They are not easy to clean.”
As a result, Dr. Anderson said, “people will have to understand and accept that there is a certain risk of the spread of the virus” if they go back to the gym.
First and foremost, the experts agree that plan to disinfect any surfaces that you and you come into contact with in the gym regularly.
“There should be a sink with soap so you can wash your hands, or there should be a hand sanitizer station as soon as you enter the door,” said Radford Slough, owner of Urban Body Fitness, a gym and CDC frequented by doctors in downtown Atlanta. the scientist. He added that the sign-in procedure should not require touching, and gym employees should stand behind sneezing shields or wear masks.
The gym itself should be equipped with sufficient spray bottles containing disinfectants that meet the anti-coronavirus standards of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as clean cloths or bleach wipes used to disinfect surfaces. Dr. Voos said that many standard general-purpose wipes stocked by gyms are not approved by the EPA and “will not kill most bacteria.” Bring your own water bottle and avoid drinking fountains.
When spraying the disinfectant, give it time—a minute or so—to kill bacteria before wiping. And first remove any dirt or dust on the surface.
Ideally, other gym customers who have lifted weights or sweated on machines will scrub them carefully afterwards. But don’t rely on the cleanliness of strangers, Dr. Anderson said. Instead, disinfect any heavy objects, rods, benches, and machine rails or knobs yourself before and after each use.
He said that it is also recommended to bring a few clean towels. “I will put one on my left shoulder to wipe the sweat from my hands and face, so I don’t keep touching my face, and the other is used to cover the weight bench” or yoga mat.
Social distancing is also necessary. Mr. Slough said that in order to reduce density, his gym currently only allows 30 people per hour to enter its 14,000 square foot facility. The colored tape on the floor separates the space wide enough so that the two sides of the weight trainer are at least six feet apart.
Dr. Anderson said that treadmills, elliptical machines and stationary bicycles can also be disassembled, and some can be taped or stopped.
However, Bert Blocken, a professor of civil engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands and Leuven University in Belgium, said that there are still problems with keeping proper distances during indoor aerobic exercise. Dr. Blocken studies the airflow around buildings and the body. He said that exercisers breathe heavy and produce many respiratory droplets. If there is no wind or forward power to move and disperse these droplets, they may linger and fall in the facility.
“Therefore,” he said, “it is very important to have a well-ventilated gym.” It is better to use a system that can continuously update the internal air with filtered air from the outside. He said that if your gym does not have such a system, you can at least expect “peaks of natural ventilation”—that is, wide-open windows on the opposite wall—to help move the air from the inside to the outside.
Finally, to help implement these different safety measures, gyms should post posters and other reminders on why and how to disinfect in their spaces, Dr. Voos said. In his research on microorganisms and infection control in sports facilities, bacteria became less common when researchers prepared cleaning supplies for trainers and athletes. But when they started to regularly educate users of the facility how and why to clean their hands and surfaces, the prevalence of bacteria dropped to almost zero.
Nonetheless, the decision about whether to return immediately after the gym opens may still be tricky and personal, depending to some extent on how each of us balances the benefits of exercise, the risk of infection, and the people who live with us. Any health vulnerabilities will return after exercise.
There may also be flash points, including about masks. Dr. Anderson predicts that although the gym may need them, “very few people will wear them” when exercising indoors. He also pointed out that they will rapidly weaken during exercise, thereby reducing their antibacterial effect.
“In the final analysis, risk will never be zero,” Dr. Anderson said. But at the same time, exercise “has many benefits for physical and mental health.” “So, my approach is that I will accept some risks, but pay attention to the steps I need to take to mitigate it. Then, yes, I will go back.”
Post time: Sep-06-2021