THUNDER BAY — Lakehead University has reopened many of its athletic facilities, but with reduced hours, limited capacity, and safety protocols in place to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
The CJ Sanders Fieldhouse and the Hangar both opened this week.
"So far, so good. We've had a good flow of people in. Folks are excited to get working out again," says LU Athletics Director Tom Warden.
In an interview Wednesday, Warden added "we felt it was important for our university to continue to provide services to our students and to our stakeholders. It was a priority to get our athletic facilities open."
The swimming pool is a key exception, as the university is still figuring out how to open it safely.
"There's a little bit more there from a touchpoint health and safety standpoint," Warden said. "Our main weight room downstairs is open, and our Hangar and main gym are open. So most of our facilities, notwithstanding our pool and what we would call our aerobics room."
Hours of operation are broken into blocks, separated by cleaning periods.
Warden cautioned users "if you are going to come, make sure you check online so you're not frustrated when you get here. The only reason we're doing that is to make sure you're safe and that every piece of equipment and every area that you're using is cleaned."
Lakehead is in the process of setting up a "capacity counter" which will enable the public to go online to see how many people are using a facility at any given time, what the permitted capacity is, and how much time is left in a prescribed block for working out.
However, the system was not operational as of late Wednesday afternoon.
Warden said the standard requirement to maintain social distancing is being enforced in all areas.
"You're six feet [apart], and making sure that when you're in common areas everybody's got a mask on," he said, adding that users can choose whether to wear a mask when they are working out, provided they respect social distancing.
Warden said the university decided to open on a restricted basis to ensure its staff could handle the workload, while keeping everyone safe.
"We've tried to make it simple and we've tried to make it safe. Recently, Ontario has increased the capacity within gyms, but we're still effectively working within the old capacity and working quite safely with it," he said.
