SAC Update from Tate 12/31/20

As we say a final goodbye to 2020, I want to thank you for sticking with SAC during these troubling times.  Here is the update of what I have been doing to get SAC open again.

With my position on the board for the Oregon Health and Fitness Alliance and my 30-year alliance with the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association, I have had daily, weekly, and monthly meetings with local, state, national and international organizations to determine if health clubs are involved in the spread of the virus and how we are actually a part of the solution. I want to be clear that this virus is real, it has taken some of my family and we all need to do what is best to slow the virus. That is why I have invested so heavily in air purification and disinfecting systems.

Here are the facts provided to me from Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen and the Deschutes Co. Health Department:

  • Since June 93 of the 100,800 Oregon cases related have been traced to fitness & recreation, a 0.0009 transmission rate, much below the national average rate of 0.002 for health clubs
    • 25 of these fitness related cases were in Deschutes County, specifically from pickleball, a CrossFit gym, and an MMA/Boxing/Wrestling studio
    • The other “fitness” cases occurred throughout the rest of the state at a martial arts studio, a dance studio, and a birthday party at a trampoline park
    • The only trace to a health club is an unknown aerobics class in June when masks and distancing were not mandated.
  • Most of the overall cases (70+%) come from social/family gatherings followed by nursing homes, prison outbreaks and the agriculture industry combining for 86% of the state’s outbreaks
  • The remaining cases come from workplaces (5.9%), religious gatherings (5.7%), retail shopping (1.5%) and indoor dining (1.5%)
  • The Oregon Workplace Outbreak report has not had one health club listed since the inception

I know that other businesses, including gyms, will reopen early to defy the order. For many reasons SAC will continue to follow the mandates and open as soon as the governor and the metrics allow. Essentially to move to the high-risk category Deschutes County needs to average 28 cases or less for a two-week rolling average.

If all of us do our part, people stop traveling as well as letting others travel to Central Oregon, I am hopeful that SAC can open in February or March.

I appreciate your continued support and cannot wait to see all of you back in here soon,

Tate