Over 1500 Check-Ins Since Opening; 0 COVID Cases

Politics Aside, This Wasn't Right

If you followed me on any of the social media outlets during the months of July and August, you would recognize my utter disdain for our NY Governor. I'm not here to argue about him. All I know is what he personally did to myself, my family, and my business for the last 6 months. And if you aren't in the shoes of a gym owner, and even a restaurant owner, you have no leg to stand on when trying to understand what we have gone through because of one man's narcissist powers. If you are a gym owner in NY right now, still able to talk about your survival, then you my friend should be proud of yourself for getting through this.If you missed the shitshow over the summer regarding the devastation for gym owners here's a link. Just like every other business, we were given guidelines that were slapped together the weekend before our hearing against Cuomo on August 20th, which the hearing never happened because he decided to allow us to open.  Some of the guidelines included:

• temperature checks upon arrival
• screening each member every single day with a 4-question survey (pictured)
• masks required at all times inside
• maintain a 6ft distance from each other
• proper sanitation protocols

And just like Cuomo did with the school systems, he left it up to the local municipalities to deal with the adjustments to these guidelines for the gyms. Inspections by the DOH or county, he commanded, were to be executed within two weeks from opening. Think about that... the amount of pressure left to the counties and towns having to figure out the schools AND the gyms at the same time. So when was my inspection? September 24th, over three weeks after opening (passed) and I know some Dutchess County gyms that just got inspected this week. "Inspections are to be done two weeks within opening." - Cuomo

Reopening

Praise all things mighty, we were allowed to reopen. So in order to give us some time to get our shit together so that we would meet all of our guidelines, we chose September 1st as our reopen date.Day 1, actually week 1, was uncomfortable - the mask thing. It sucked. It still sucks. But if you are reading this and are refusing to go to any gym because of the mask situation, I can promise you it's not that bad. In fact, you get used to it. I wholeheartedly agree that it can't be great for your health especially if you are doing HIIT, or any CF-like exercise. But you just have to do it. What's worse: wearing a mask while working out, or continuing to sit on your ass and feel sorry for yourself?You get used to the mask.

We have been blessed with great weather. So.... mask off. The workouts outside have been really convenient actually. And our landlord and neighbors in our plaza have been extremely understanding and respectful; at the end of the day, we're just out here trying to get fit aka eliminate the threat that is COVID.

THE FACTS

Cuomo's favorite word is, "facts." So I'm going to give you some facts from what our little gym here in Dutchess County is doing in the fight against COVID.

• From September 1st - October 9th we've had over 1545 check-ins. I say "over" because that doesn't include our coaches, kids, teens, Fit Over 50, and Get Moving classes.
• Our youngest member is 4 and our oldest member is 82.
• After over 1500 check-ins there has been 0 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Our members have taken this very seriously. And everyone knows that if they aren't feeling well then they will stay home. One member recently reached out to me last week saying they weren't feeling well, and that they were going to stay home. They got tested for COVID but the results weren't coming back until this past Monday - negative. The member still stayed home with just a bad sinus infection. But that's how you handle it. That's what everyone needs to do.

So What Happened to 'Phase 4?'

And why were gyms left out? Dutchess County entered Phase 4 on July 7th. There I was watching the amazing Gov. Cuomo boast about his incredible job he's done with NY. I was like a little kid on Christmas morning just waiting and waiting for my gift (the word "gym) to show up under my tree. Before I knew it, he ended his press conference. Wait a second... there's only four phases. So now what?After weeks and weeks of outrage from us gym owners, a judge issued a hearing for August 20th. And like I mentioned, that weekend before the hearing Cuomo slapped together his guidelines, and allowed us to open August 24th. But I have some very alarming concerns:

• WHAT THE HELL WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OPENING UP JULY 7TH AND AUGUST 24TH?
• How will gyms recover from that 6-week loss in revenue?
• What about the gyms that closed during that 6-week period? Would they still be operating if we opened up during Phase 4?
• What about the staff members whose unemployment benefits ended, with the hopes that we'd open Phase 4?

July 7th vs. August 24th.... tell me what the HUGE difference was.Nevertheless, CF845 has been crushing it. I've been extremely proud of the staff and the members respecting each other and the guidelines we have to follow. Hopefully this all ends soon and we can really get back to normal.------------------------------------------------Dave Aisenstat, Owner. CrossFit 845Want to be a part of our BEST intro program ever? Couch 2 CrossFit; 28-Day Reset has been supplying new members with the most fulfilling workout experience we've ever provided. Schedule an intro!