GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – Greater Green Bay YMCA locations are set to reopen officially on June 1st, but things are going to look different.
Weights will be lifted, miles will be run, and laps will be swum when YMCAs around Green Bay open in just over a week. But some changes have been made.
“It’s been 68 days since our YMCAs had to shut our doors to the community because this pandemic,” says President and CEO Sean Elliott, We’re going to look different. We’ve moved all of our fitness equipment to ensure social distancing in all aspects of what we do.”
Staff will also be wearing masks throughout all operating hours, and members will be offered the option of wearing masks when they enter the facilities.
But the idea of choice is a key point in more than just covering your face. The Greater Green Bay YMCA allowed members to either keep their memberships or put them on hold, and that option will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
“We’re going to allow them to keep their memberships on hold even after we open back up officially on June 1st,” Elliott says, “As a thank you to those members that stayed with us we are going to be doing a soft opening the day after Memorial Day, which we’re very excited about.”
During a tour of the East Side YMCA on Friday morning, reporters were shown the distancing and other health and safety measures being implemented at the facilities. Treadmills were eight feet apart. Ellipticals and other machines were spread out into different multi-purpose rooms and up in the track mezzanine area.
“We’re using our square footage in all of our facilities to ensure that physical distancing – we like to use physical distancing versus social distancing because we are in the social relationship business – so we do want to give people a place to come back and connect with their friends and family,” says Ferguson Family Branch Executive Amy Schaeuble, “Now you’ll see wellness space to spread out in multi purpose rooms in gymnasiums and allowing people to feel safe when they come to the Y.”
The pool area will also be closely monitored by what Schaeuble calls a ‘concierge,’ which will maintain the capacity and cleanliness of all surfaces on the deck. Swimmers are usually asked to share lanes in the lap pool, but that rule is being changed to just one person (or family) per lane – and swimmers are being asked to stay as close to the middle of that lane as possible.
“We can open our facilities first to learn as much as we can to open responsibly, and then we’ll introduce group exercise and child watch and some of that traditional programming a little bit later in summer,” Schaeuble tells WTAQ News, “Our goal in doing all this was to ensure that it’s not a lot of don’t don’t and no’s, no’s – it’s just a different way of exercising or using the Y socially or with their family.”
The basketball courts will be open and available, but basketballs must be checked out from the front desk – and only one family group is allowed per hoop. Even on the track, it will be limited to just walking for a start. A distance of 6-10 feet between walkers is recommended.
Group exercises are scheduled to start on June 15th, but even those will return with a limited size and reservation system.
“Instead of a class of 40 we’ll have a class of 9 participants in our classes and they’ll be able to sign up to reserve their spot to ensure their spot in class,” Schaeuble says.
The facilities will be deep cleaned several times every day, and more staff will be brought in to help members keep track of all the new rules.
“We’ll have a short little safety break every afternoon, mid-day, just to do a deep cleaning of our facilities to prepare for that next wave of members that come in,” Schaeuble says, “We’re bringing back more staff to support and be on the floor and make sure we are very visible to our members if they have a question.”
Youth coming to Greater Green Bay YMCA locations must be accompanied by their parents or guardians, at least during the initial phases.
Even more frustrating news for youth members – the cancellation of Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya.
“The lengthy process of gathering the best information available, consulting with experts in both healthcare and youth camping, and evaluating all possible program alterations and considerations – It’s with a heavy heart that I share with you the YMCA of Greater Green Bay’s decision to suspend YMCA Camp U-Nah-Li-Ya’s traditional summer camp programs for 2020,” says Executive Director of Camping Services Max Clark, “We can only conclude that too little is known on how to promise maintain and deliver a safe and meaningful camping experience for the youth in our community.”
Clark was visibly emotional and teary-eyed – and choked up while delivering the statement to reporters. The camp has been around for 82 years, and was cut short in 2019 due to severe weather in July.
“Some of the guidance is inconsistent. We can get information from doctors and scientists in one area, we can get guidance from politicians in a different area. It’s unfortunate that the decisions for this fall onto our shoulders, because we’re not doctors, we’re not scientists, we’re not the specialized people trained in this field. How are we to make that call? So the last thing I wanted to do was gamble with the health of our community,” Clark tells WTAQ News, “We’re concerned about the repercussions of an outbreak. We were concerned about our staff and their health. We were concerned about parents and grandparents picking up their kids after a week of that – there’s a lot of factors that go into that.”
While safety and health precautions are always the top suggestions along with continued disinfections and sanitation – Clark points out that trying to keep a summer camp perfectly clean just isn’t in the cards.
“What’s the goal here? Are we trying to really help out in controlling this pandemic? Because throwing a bunch of kids into a cabin piled up on each other – I don’t care how you think things are gonna happen with regulations – kids are kids, man. And summer camp, the last thing it is, is completely sterile,” Clark says, “We can try all we want, but they’re gonna mix up those germs and stuff.”
The traditional camp will not be happening, but a modified Summer Family Camp option has been introduced. It’s a three day, two night camp for parents and kids to bond.
“You got mom, dad bringing a couple kids up. They’ve got their own cabin. They’ve got the parents supervising and controlling the amount of risk that they’re willing to take,” Clark says.
YMCA staff will implement safety measures and disinfection. Facilities for those camps will be disinfected multiple times a day, and all program equipment will be disinfected following every use.
The family camp also allows the facility to rest for 24 hours between groups to make sure it’s clean, and that staff is healthy and ready to go. Given the circumstances, Clark says he’s confident it’s the best program they can offer at this time.
