SWITZERLAND
31.10.2020 – 10:340
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To put during, between, after or … never? It is not at all clear and many do as they want
The reply from the FOPH: “It is impossible to guarantee distances, so federal regulations apply”
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ZURICH – Keep your distance, wear a mask, and a maximum of 15 people in each gym and / or indoor sports area. The new measures for Covid, wanted by Bern, are particularly heavy for fitness enthusiasts.
Alain Berset himself recently confirmed this to 20 Minuten: “Distances, mask or the only alternative is to close.” The exception is only granted in the case of gyms or particularly large structures with an important ventilation system.
In any case, great uncertainty remains among operators on what can be done and what not, with protocols applied differently from gym to gym. An example comes from the umbrella company SFGV which represents around 400 fitness companies across Switzerland and has studied its model in collaboration with Daniel Koch.
The SFGV, therefore, argues that “the obligation does not apply, if there are barriers between users as well as if social distance is respected”. The association also points the finger at all those activities for which “the use of the mask is simply incompatible”.
You could therefore not put on if you do low-intensity activities, such as yoga, and if there is enough space (which varies depending on the sport effort, from 4 square meters to 15 per individual). In a large gym there can be 50 people, for the courses instead it would be a maximum of 15.
The FOPH, however, does not agree and takes a position, as reported by 20 Minuten, on the real chaos concerning training and the mask.
“It is up to the cantons to decide whether the rules applied are actually valid,” explains spokesman Yann Hulmann, but the federal regulations remain clear, the mask remains mandatory: “In no gym it is possible to guarantee that users, or trainers, are always 1, 5 meters away from each other. For this reason, the mask must be worn both in the gym and in the other rooms and passages ».
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