Virgin Active closed its Cresta Club in Johannesburg on Thursday 19 March after a member tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to Business Insider, this comes a day after the group closed its Melrose Arch club, also due to a member testing positive for coronavirus.
On Thursday, it was announced that the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Africa is at 150 people — an increase of 34 cases since the day before — Wednesday 18 March.
Following the news on Thursday, Gauteng still has the highest number of confirmed cases out of all the provinces — a whopping 76 people.
Limpopo had no new cases as of Thursday.
Virgin Active member at Cresta club tests positive for coronavirus
Virgin Active said all Cresta club members should have received an SMS, and will also receive an email, explaining when the person visited the club and how the club is being disinfected.
“Closing the club was a proactive measure on our part to disinfect the entire facility (the team comes in in hazmat suits!),” Virgin Active told Business Insider South Africa via e-mail.
“We have not seen any retailers, restaurants or shopping centres do the same,” it said.
The South African received no response from the gym after numerous attempts to get comment.
Melrose Arch gym member tests positive
Virgin Active said it proactively opted to close the Melrose Arch club on Wednesday after a member who visited it on 13 March was in touch to say she had tested positive for the coronavirus. Melrose Arch is set to reopen tomorrow after being disinfected.
“We were one of many places she visited over the course of time, and she believes she contracted the virus from a colleague who had travelled,” the company said.
Virgin Active also recommended that other members who attended the gym on that day, seek medical advice if they start displaying any coronavirus symptoms.
The gym quoted President Cyril Ramaphosa saying that hygiene control is necessary. Therefore, it doesn’t mean gyms should be closed down completely.
“President Ramaphosa has called on all businesses such as the management of malls, entertainment centres and other places frequented by large numbers of people to bolster their hygiene control,” it said.
“We are committed to this and have stringent measures in place in answer to the President’s mandate and to ensure business continuity,” it added.
Virgin Active introduces precautionary measures
Here’s how Virgin Active will combat the spread of coronavirus.
- Giving you more space by limiting amount of people in club to no more than 100 at any given time. This is about 50% of our normal usage levels;
- Members may freeze their memberships at no charge;
- Reduced the size of group classes by 50% with additional cleaning between classes;
- Increasing fresh air ventilation into clubs;
- Removed keyboards from internet stations;
- Closed Club-V in line with government school closure guidelines to combat spread of coronavirus;
- Limited access to two people at a time in our saunas and steam rooms;
- Spread out staff and educated those remaining in clubs on hygiene and social distancing;
- Increased cleaning staff and frequency with hospital-grade cleaning products.;
- Made sanitiser and disinfectant spray available in all clubs;
- Making a series of online workouts available for members to stay active at home; and
- Taking our workouts outside with the introduction of Virgin Active Run Club.
“We are monitoring access across all of our clubs, although the general number of gym goers has already dropped organically. As per the government mandate, we will restrict the number of people in any club to 100 at any given time,” it said on its blog.
“We are reducing the size of group classes by 50% to practice social distancing,” it added.
Here are their mythbusters:
- The coronavirus is not spread through sweat. It is spread through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes;
- The coronavirus is not spread through pool water. The chlorine used in our pools kill any germs or viruses;
- The coronavirus cannot be absorbed through skin. Only if you touch your eyes, nose or mouth with your contaminated hands, can you transfer the virus from a contaminated surface to yourself; and
- Wearing gloves is not effective in preventing the spread of coronavirus. You can still pick up coronavirus contamination on gloves. If you then touch your face, the contamination goes from the glove to your face and can infect you.
