People required to wear face coverings in all gyms in Wales

The Welsh Government has confirmed that anybody using a gym in Wales must wear a face-covering.

There had been uncertainty regarding face masks in gyms, with some choosing to enforce mask-wearing among their clients while others did not.

In a statement, the Welsh Government confirmed that gym users are required to wear a face-covering when going into a gym.

However, face coverings don’t have to be worn during strenuous activities unless social distancing isn’t possible, but they must be worn during entry, exit, changing and preparing for activities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) advises against wearing a face covering when exercising, however. They say sweat can make a face-covering become wet more quickly, making it difficult to breathe, promoting the growth of microorganisms.

Instead, the WHO advises maintaining physical distance from others as the key preventative measure.

Welsh Government also said it is up to individual gyms to decide where and when coverings should be worn, but some gym owners believe the advice and guidance from the government has not been detailed enough.

Garron Wiltshire, owner of Power Athletics, told Caerphilly Observer: “I understand where the government are coming from and masks are absolutely the right decision, but they should have done it from day one.

“When the lockdown announcement was made on Tuesday, we took the decision to implement masks immediately, however some other gyms have not.

“We aren’t asking for much, just guidance that is clear and easy to understand. We have had no communication with Welsh Government, they haven’t asked us what we want or what we need.”

Power Athletics have implemented strict policies around hygiene, contact tracing, temperature checking and face coverings in a bid to make their gym as clean and as safe as possible.

Wiltshire told Caerphilly Observer however that the guidance on class numbers is lacking, especially now the county is under a local lockdown.

“To be fair, our members have been fantastic. They have totally complied with what we have done, and we haven’t had to ask a single person to wear a mask.

“The issue is in classes where equipment is shared between people in a short space of time.

“We have cancelled our classes this week, but even though we are starting them again on Monday with capped numbers, the guidance on numbers just isn’t clear enough.

“Once we have clear guidance, we can continue to operate safely and put all our members at ease.”