Gym and omicron variant

[Shopaholic100]

I rejoined the gym in October but not sure if it’s worth the risk. I have a family member who has underlying health issues. What’s everyone else doing?

We don’t yet know if it’s more dangerous or if it evades the vaccine. If you want to be cautious then don’t go but if you’d rather wait and see then keep going

Live your life for goodness sake and stop reading the tabloid press.

I'll go to the gym unless they're closed, it's too important for my mental and physical well being. I've resigned myself to the fact that it's probably a "when" not "if" for catching covid now.

Went this morning. If places are open I will attend. The only reason I ever think about Covid is when it's on social media. The hysteria around any new variant is nonsensical!

My gym had been encouraging all users to continue to pick up a spray bottle and enormous paper roll on the way in and wipe down all equipment after use.

Together with the fact that everyone is great at giving others space and I take my own towel (straight in wash after) to lie on for mat work, don't use lockers and take a pre filled water bottle my contact points are minimal, to be honest I feel safer there than at the supermarket.

Live your life!!

You don't question the flu variants that come out every year, do you??

My gym asks you to take a bottle of sanitising sparky and a. J cloth that they provide , and clean the equipment before and after use , then put the J cloth in the washing bin provided on the way out
As @tellmewhentheLangshiplandscoz says , keep your distance , take your own water and towel
My gym still has a booking in system so numbers can be controlled , and gym users are asked not to use the showers and wet side changing rooms , keeping these for the swimmers only
Gym members can go home in their gym gear , not so good driving home in a wet swimsuit !

Keep going to the gym , mental health and well being is so important

As above. I feel safer at the gym than in shops, on public transport or (particularly) at work in an educational setting. Other gym users are courteous and careful.

Just be careful, take precautions, wipe machines down after you've used them, sanitise your hands on the way in and out. It's all you can do. You have to live your life.

Sparky = spray
And I did proofread !

The reports from Africa indicate that this is an even milder variant, akin to a cold. So really it’s up to you but personally I think that we need to just crack on now. Fear is bad for the immune system.

We don't even know if this variant makes you ill! The indications are that it doesn't.

This is nuts.

I’m not sure why you’re more worried about catching omicron at the gym that delta. We’ve had high cases of that for ages.

It's difficult to imagine that the omicron variant won't be found to be more transmissible than Delta. Everything is pointing that way.

And we only have good info from South Africa at the moment, and their population demographics differ from ours significantly.

Plus it was only just discovered, so SA are still in the early days of what omicron can do.

Being more transmissible and able to infect some people undetected are advantages for the virus. It helps them spread.

There's no indication as yet that it's less dangerous to the clinically vulnerable

TLDR:

It's probably easier for you to catch it.

You might be less likely to realise you've caught it.

The vulnerable are still just as vulnerable to it as far as we know.

Personally I’m not too worried about catching it my self, more about catching and spreading to family. Whilst I know some say it’s just like the flu, I don’t know anyone who’s died from flu but I do know of quite a few people who have either died from Covid or who’s lives have been completely changed due to long Covid.

My gym is pretty good with anti bacterial sprays, keeping distance etc and I always wipe everything before use again just to make sure. I think I’ll keep going for now and see how it goes.

Because covid is airborne, an indoor setting that has people breathing hard but no HEPA filters is a place that it's more likely you can catch covid.

So I'm less interested in cleaning the exercise equipment and more interested in what equipment they have for cleaning the air.

And that's why I've spent most of the pandemic missing my classes and digging out old DVDs like Pump It Up and The Pussy Cat Dolls Workout to try and bring the fun at home.

I have and will go to the gym while ever it is open. The benefit to my physical and mental health is what matters to me not some hyped up fear about an unknown variant that the tabloid press have gone to town on over the weekend to whip up a sense of panic! Live your life, do what you enjoy and step away from the internet/ media is my recommendation.

I don’t get this- you were still at risk before this new variant, either live in a bubble or get on with it

DH changed the time he goes to the gym - he's found opening time on a Sat and Sun am and after 8pm much quieter. In face, at 8.30am on a Sat, he often has it top himself.

What’s everyone else doing?

Carrying as normal, including going to the gym. I'm not putting my life on hold any more. I've had two vaccinations, will get my booster when I'm eligible to book AND I've had Covid, AND the ventilation at the gym is going full blast so that feels like an acceptably mitigated risk to me.

@PrincessNutNuts

Because covid is airborne, an indoor setting that has people breathing hard but no HEPA filters is a place that it's more likely you can catch covid.

So I'm less interested in cleaning the exercise equipment and more interested in what equipment they have for cleaning the air.

And that's why I've spent most of the pandemic missing my classes and digging out old DVDs like Pump It Up and The Pussy Cat Dolls Workout to try and bring the fun at home.

That sounds like fun 🙂

I do 4 spin classes a week...wouldn't even contemplate not going