OCCC’s Fitness and Recreation Center is Open with Health and Safety Measures in Place
By Khai Huynh – Online Editor
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Recreation and Fitness center had to operate under guidelines and restrictions to keep the community safe. But now, Oklahoma City Community College has reopened on-campus class offerings and Covid-19 restrictions have eased. OCCC’s fitness center is carefully returning to its normal schedule and activities.
The gym is currently open but with a limited capacity. Social distancing measures are also still being enforced. OCCC’s Recreation and Fitness Customer Service Assistant, Mark Bateman, said the center originally limited the number of people that could be in each area of the gym, but has relaxed some of those rules when it became safe to do so.
“We started four and four on each side of the gym with four on the basketball court,” said Bateman. “Once we felt it was safe again, we started opening more.”
For students, faculty, and staff that want to work out at home, free online videos are still available on the Recreation and Fitness web page. During earlier stages of reopening, reservations were required to use the fitness center. That restriction has now been lifted and gym-goers can work out without reservations.
“We just stopped the reservation system, so now we are closer to the full operation,” said Bateman.
With good management and cleanliness throughout the facility, the gym is ready to welcome back its members.
“Right now, our machines are cleaned and disinfected once a day.” Bateman added, “we want people to feel as comfortable as possible when they come in.”
Clean towels and cleaning spray are provided for gym members to clean the equipment after each use.
The Recreation and Fitness center started offering the Bootcamp and Yoga class in September. The two classrooms that are usually used for the classes currently being used, so the classes are temporarily unavailable.
The Recreation and Fitness center is free for students to use, and it is currently open Monday through Friday from 6 a.m.-7 p.m. Follow the OCCC Recreation and Fitness Facebook page for more information and updates.