Christchurch - ExerciseNZ will today advise parliament’s epidemic response committee on how to manage risks associated with covid-19 within exercise facilities and exercise providers in New Zealand in alert level two.

Richard Beddie, the ExerciseNZ chief executive, says he will table a framework to the committee for exercise facilities in New Zealand NZ operating in a coronavirus environment, showing how people can safely return to exercise facilities when alert level two begins.

“The report will provide recommendations for exercise providers that are evidence based and follow a risk-minimisation model,” Beddie says.

“It will provide a series of protocols should community transmission risk rise and additional protocols need to be considered to keep exercise facilities open.

“The framework, developed by ExerciseNZ, is a world first during the pandemic, having engaged global experts, as well as a NZ-based clinical protocol designer to ensure all the recommendations were evidence-based and consistent with the latest research on covid-19.  

“We’ve specifically considered each and every covid-19 risk and developed a mitigation strategy from them, using a model based on one developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA.  

“We go much farther than we think government will likely go at alert level two. We cover detailed examples and common scenarios, everything from water coolers to treadmills. But we also specifically mandate increased social distancing over and above the existing level two rules, as well as masks in some settings for exercise staff.

“This is all based on the latest evidence and research and due to the unique risks that exercise can pose. The important thing is that by following these guidelines, being in an exercise facility will be safer than going to the supermarket, according to all our research.  

“In submitting this framework, we want to not only provide support to exercise providers in navigating covid-19 but provide information to government and the New Zealand exercising public of more than half a million, that we take safety seriously.  

“We have the best evidence-based protocols in the world and will work with the industry to make sure everyone is as safe as possible,” Beddie says.

For further information contact Make Lemonade NZ editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188