Mildura gyms: F45 Mildura indoor gym remains closed as Victoria restrictions continue
Space to socially distance, a booking system, details of where members are from and no local cases in six months. So why is this Mildura gym shut?
Mildura
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Mildura gym owners remain in wait for a return to indoor training, with high temperatures already forcing some outdoor sessions to be cancelled.
The industry had hoped for an easing of rules last Sunday, but the ban on indoor sports centres, including gyms, training facilities and pools, was kept in place.
F45 Mildura owner Ben Dalton said outdoor sessions, with a maximum of 10 people, were being tested by the warmer weather.
A recent session was called off when it was still 32 degrees at 5pm in Mildura, where the mean November maximum is 27.7, climbing to 30.4 in December.
“There will be more days we can’t train in the afternoon,” Mr Dalton said, adding that rain also caused cancellations.
All while Mr Dalton has a 600 sqm indoor facility, which only opened last year, sitting empty.
“It is pretty disheartening in terms of we’ve done all the right things and there is no timeline,” he said.
“It doesn’t give us much of an opportunity to prepare what we need to go forward.
“We’ve now been closed longer than what we’ve been open for.”
Mr Dalton said his business could easily contact trace, given it had a booking system and the details of all its members.
He said the gym could even ensure nobody from outside the region enters the gym.
Social distancing can be managed in such a large area and since COVID-19 there has been no sharing of equipment.
Sanitising and wiping down equipment was already normal for the gym before, he said.
The Mildura local government area has had six confirmed cases of COVID-19, the sixth of which was found to be a person visiting Melbourne for medical treatment who was not infectious while in Mildura.
Before that, the municipality’s last announcement of a case was April 8.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, when quizzed on gyms last weekend, maintained they were “high-risk environments”.
“That’s not my opinion, that’s not a matter that I’ve come up with, that’s the international evidence,” Mr Andrews said.
Mr Dalton was hopeful changes could be announced soon.
“That is the most frustrating part of it, we keep getting ridiculed as a high-risk industry,” Mr Dalton said.
“Gyms and us especially, we’ve always cleaned our equipment after use, we’ve always had hand sanitiser at the door.
“It’s nothing new for us.
“I think we’ve got all the procedures in place … we’re ready to go, as soon as we get that green light and hopefully that would be the end of it.”
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