In a gym in Virginia, United States, one of the instructors tested positive for Covid-19 after giving lessons to fifty clients in early October. The danger was real, but no one contracted the Coronavirus: luckily for them the owner of the 460 Fitness had taken all precautions to guarantee them maximum safety, thanks to advice that colleagues dream of. By lucky coincidence, there is one of the regulars of the gym Professor Linsey Marr of the Virginia Tech University, which specializes in the mechanisms of airborne transmission of pathogens and viruses.
Come Insider tells, during the summer the scientist collaborated with owner Velvet Minnick to study a series of tricks that guaranteed athletes to be able to train free from contagion risks. To begin with, of course, thorough sanitation of tools and a guaranteed distance between one person and another of at least three meters: more than the two meters usually recommended in the United States, because, according to Marr, when you exercise you breathe more intensely and therefore you can expel more contagious particles.
Anecdote from my gym: 1 infected coach, 50 exposed athletes, 0 known transmission events. Owner Velvet Minnick implemented strict distancing, ventilation, and hygiene policies. At least 10 feet between athletes and lots of open doors (circled in red) during workouts. Brr, winter. pic.twitter.com/70iN5KpnXA
— Linsey Marr (@linseymarr)
October 8, 2020
But the main intervention concerned theventilation, which the professor indicates how the priority for places like gyms“I think we need to invest half of our time and effort in cleaning the air rather than cleaning surfaces,” he told Insider. For the 460 Fitness he therefore studied how to implement the best possible ventilation and constant air exchange. In this case, the structure of the gym lent itself particularly well, being set up inside a spacious warehouse that has several doors and large shutters open to the outside.
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