WEXFORD, Pa. — When Pennsylvania first eased capacity restrictions, smaller local gyms had to work with limited space.
Hitting the gym is going to look more normal now because the state has lifted most of its mitigation orders. This is what small gyms have been waiting for.
Now that capacity and social distancing restrictions have been lifted, gyms in Pennsylvania are allowed to be at 100% capacity.
[ RELATED >> All Pennsylvania COVID-19 mitigation orders, except mask mandate, lifted ]
Small gyms — like Burn Boot Camp in Wexford — are especially excited. When the state previously increased capacity, class sizes essentially stayed the same because of social distancing requirements.
Wexford’s head trainer Matt White says classes will eventually be full again with 80 people. However, the gym is capping capacity at 50 people per class until the staff gets into a good rhythm.
“It was less about the occupancy and more about the six by six because to be six by six we could only fit 34 people even though our 75 percent capacity higher than that,” explained White. “It is a whole different vibe like going back to school after a summer break you haven’t seen these people in potentially a year and being a small gym we get invested in people’s health and life so it’s like seeing a friend you have seen in a long time.”
Purre Barre in Wexford is also taking baby steps to increase capacity. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention already said fully vaccinated people can go maskless and don’t need to social distance.
“Hindsight 2020 it took a long time to get here it’s exciting,” explained Kelly Hayes. “Since the restrictions have been lifted we’ve had a lot of new interest so people are tired of working out at home that wants to be back in the studio this is a great opportunity for them to come back.”
Purre Barre and Burn Boot Camp in Wexford are both aiming to be at full capacity in the next few weeks.
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