The Memorial Sports Centre in Fort Frances is reopening under the guidelines set out under the Yellow-Protect level of the Keeping Ontario Safe and Open Framework.
Aaron Bisson, recreational and cultural manager, said they are operating the same way they have before the lockdown.
“We reached out to the health unit to ensure that we’re operating under the appropriate guidelines,” Bisson said. “Based on our plan that we have and policy procedures we have in place, we just make sure that we’re in line with public health guidance.”
However, Bisson said there is an increased three-metre spacing between users at equipment rooms, weight rooms and swimming pool. The sports centre is only allowing 10 individuals per room indoors.
Bisson said since Christmas, they have added an intercom system at the front door to communicate with any guests and screen them. This will give them the opportunity to remotely ask questions to minimize physical contact.
“We have continued to collect contact information for all our members that enter the facility and everyone requires a reservation to come in and use the facility,” Bisson said.
There are various time slots that could be booked to use the gym, the weight room and pool lanes. Members can book up to two weeks in advance while nonmembers can only book one week in advance.
All classes that were scheduled to run before the lockdown are starting again. Bisson said users will still get the 10 weeks they paid for. Bisson added that they are happy to offer refunds if the new schedule does not work for them.
Bisson said they expanded the class offerings where possible in order to keep a maximum of 10 individuals per class.
Even though council approved the removal of ice from the Ice for Kids arena, rules around the number of spectators allowed have not changed.
“Everything is the same as far as spectators go for the arena that is still open,” Bisson said.
“One spectator per user or skater is allowed to a maximum 50 spectators indoors.”
Bisson said the rules and guidelines are subject to change whenever the province changes to a different colour zone under the framework.
Bisson added that a lot of the confusion stemmed from the reopening framework from the province because there were various rules and dates for different parts of the province.
“There’s a lot to those phrases that the [province] uses, and they mean different things to different people,” Bisson said. “I can understand how people would be confused about what’s allowed to be open and what’s not.”
