The statewide mask mandate for businesses lifts Wednesday, and with it local gyms are expecting a lift of their own.
The rollback of the indoor mask requirement presents an opportunity for gym operators such as 24 Hour Fitness, which will create separate “masks required” areas within its clubs across Texas, leaving the main floors open for people who choose not to wear them.
“We’ve got a good mix of equipment there’s really no workout you can’t do in that sectioned off area,” said Greg Johnson, general manager of the 24 Hour Fitness on West 18th. “So there’s options for both sides.”
It’s been a tough year for the California-based company. It filed for bankruptcy in June as the pandemic ravaged the in-person fitness industry, closing a dozen gyms in the Houston area as part of its reorganization.
Nearly a year after the pandemic first hit Houston, Gov. Greg Abbott told Texans he is lifting an order requiring masks inside businesses. For many gyms across Houston, where operators have taken a more relaxed approach to mask mandates, members won’t notice a change as the rollback takes effect Wednesday.
At the YMCA of Greater Houston, which owns 20 active gyms in the Houston area, members are required to wear masks but are allowed to remove them while exercising.
Steven Ives, president and CEO of the local YMCA, said his organization will continue operating as it has since July — masks are not required while working out, but they are required while walking around the gym and locker rooms.
“We’re gonna stick with what’s working,” Ives said. “We’ve been able to keep our workforce healthy and in place.
Gyms have more control over their environments than the average restaurant, said Tiny Meeker, a powerlifter and trainer who is co-owner of Monster Gym in Kingwood. That helps them as they’re trying to keep the coronavirus out, he said.
“We can see if people aren’t feeling well, most of the time, and keep those people out of the gym,” he said. “Even if you’re sniffing because of allergies … you might be asked to leave.”
Some clients wear masks and others don’t, he said. His gym doesn’t get crowded, so it’s easy enough to separate people based on their comfort levels.
Still, heavy breathing sends viruses farther into the air, said Catherine L. Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
“I understand that wearing a mask while exercising is not comfortable, but you are endangering people around you if you happen to have an asymptomatic infection,” she said.
That said, “it’s a conundrum because it is difficult to work out with a mask on,” she added.
A YMCA member herself, Troisi said she sometimes leaves the gym because there are too many maskless people around her. She tries to go at quiet times.
She called the 24 Hour Fitness approach a clever adaptation. The YMCA offers outside classes, and she said those are also a great option.
“I’m just not so worried about spreading the virus outside as I would be inside where people are breathing really heavy,” she said.
At his 24 Hour Fitness in the Heights, Johnson staff moved equipment onto the basketball court, now the new “masks required” area.
“So that way they won’t have any contact with those that do not want to wear a mask,” he said. “As far as I know we’re the only fitness company in the country that is doing that.”
Earlier in the pandemic, he said those not wanting to wear a mask pushed back, and now that restrictions are loosening, it’s the opposite. Having a separate “club within a club” seemed like a way to accommodate both, he said.
amanda.drane@chron.com
Twitter.com/amandadrane
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