As N.C. moves into Phase 2.5, campus recreation looks to reopen

Campus Recreation facilities at UNC have been closed this semester due to COVID-19 safety concerns. But the University is hopeful they'll reopen soon.

Gov. Roy Cooper announced Tuesday that North Carolina would move into Phase 2.5 of easing COVID-19 restrictions at 5 p.m. on Sept. 4. Phase 2.5 includes the partial reopening of fitness and competitive physical activity facilities at 30 percent capacity.

Director of Campus Recreation Bill Goa said Thursday that students will hopefully be back in campus recreation facilities by the end of September under these lessened restrictions.

Goa said the UNC Campus Recreation Department has been developing appropriate protocols for its fitness and recreation programs since early summer. He said it plans to slowly phase in programming and operations starting soon.

“I think everyone wants to have some kind of recreational health and fitness up and going,” Goa said. “It will probably be a couple of weeks of staff training, and then we’ll slowly implement our policies and procedures as we open up Ram’s Head.”

Goa said some of those policies and procedures include social distancing requirements, more frequent cleaning, entry, masking and exit protocols. 

He said enforcement will primarily be up to the Campus Recreation staff, which — as the largest student employer on campus — includes over 80 UNC students.

Some students expressed concern about working in an in-person environment, like a fitness facility, during the pandemic. 

Amy Chau, a UNC senior who works as a supervisor of sports programs for Campus Recreation, said she would like to return to work in some capacity because her job provides her source of income for the semester. But she is a bit nervous as to what that could entail.

“With the spike of cases we saw in Chapel Hill within the first two weeks, it’s kind of scary to think that I could be working in that kind of environment,” Chau said. “As long as they make sure that everybody wore a mask and there’s social distancing, and just hourly cleanings, I think that I would feel more comfortable.”

Goa said he has confidence in students’ ability to take the requirements seriously, knowing that other students will be sharing the facility at the same time. 

But student workers are more skeptical.

“Using the gym before COVID, people already weren’t really wiping down equipment after they used it,” said Rebecca Lee, a work-study student about to start as an operations manager for Campus Recreation. “My job wouldn’t be working in the gym so I wouldn’t be as concerned for my personal health, but I would be a little concerned for others and my friends who work there and work in the gyms.”

Goa said Campus Recreation cannot open right away because in-person staff trainings were halted when the University stopped all in-person gatherings. Some training items, such as cleaning, are necessary to do in person.

In the meantime, Campus Recreation will continue to offer a variety of online programs, including YouTube fitness classes, Goa said. He said these will likely continue indefinitely, even after the pandemic, because of how many new students they have reached so far.

Josh Tucker, the senior assistant director of marketing, communications and external relations for Campus Recreation, said there are new offerings. These include several recently added e-sports and Strava challenges, which track runs, bikes and swims to potentially win prizes.

Campus Recreation maintained that its main priority in reopening on-campus facilities is for the safety and well-being of those involved.

“One of the reasons that we are going to be delaying is because a No. 1 concern is for the safety and well-being of our participants, our student staff and our professional staff," Goa said. "We’re going to move forward when we feel comfortable based on the protocols we have enforced."

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