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Manitoba Fitness Council - Fitness and Fitness Facilities as an Essential Service - Informing Manitoban's as we Restore Safe Services COVID-19
1.
Fitness as an Essential Service.
Many have commented to us that fitness and facilities that offer exercise opportunities are an essential service. We have been approached by Government and would like to provide some context to them, to help them convince those that are not as understanding of this position.
We acknowledge that we are living through unprecedented times and we need to proceed cautiously. The risks of closing gyms again and the long term effects on participants health include: decreased capacity to recover from the disease should we be exposed to it, increased weight, increased sedentary behaviour, low cardio respiratory health, decreased mental health (including: anxiety, depression, decreased coping mechanisms) as well as other complications yet to be discovered.
We know that when people are at home for long periods of time, the intentions are good but studies have shown that physical activity levels dropped by as much as 60%.
"Short-term changes in Physical Activity and Sedentary Behaviour in reaction to COVID-19 may become permanently entrenched, leading to increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease in children and adults."
Essential services are defined by Government as: all the services necessary to ensure the health and safety of citizens. Those are the services and activities for which the health and safety of citizens could potentially be threatened if they were interrupted. We feel we meet the above criteria.
