Solano County allowing several businesses to reopen

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ByAmy Hollyfield KGO logo
Tuesday, June 9, 2020
Solano County allowing several businesses to reopen
Solano County is skipping ahead of the state and is allowing these businesses to reopen as long as they meet the state's requirements.

SOLANO COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- Solano County is skipping ahead of the state and is allowing these businesses to re-open as long as they meet the state's requirements: Gyms and fitness centers, wineries, bars and breweries, family entertainment centers, zoos and museums and hotels.

Members of the fitness club Training Loft 714 in Benicia said they were happy to be back.

"It feels amazing. Doing the home workouts is one thing but to come back and sweat and be around the motivation and the energy is amazing," Lisa Spahn said Tuesday while taking a Boot Camp Class.

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The club's owner says getting ready was a lot of work but was worth it.

"We are glad to comply as long as we can open because it has been a long 11 weeks," said Denise Brazeal, Owner of Training Loft 714.

She has marked the floor for spacing people apart from each other.

"Typically we can fit 50 people on our mat. Now we are down to 26," she said.

She has also changed the cleaning frequency and the flow of people.

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"We are having the members themselves clean their own equipment, clean their area that they've stood in. And then we go in after they have left the studio. So it is double cleaned. They exit the back door and then the new class comes in when everybody is out. We don't let anyone pass each other. A lot of people actually are wearing masks coming in and take them off once they get to their spot," she explained.

But across town, Benicia Health and Fitness Club are still closed. It is a much larger gym and the general manager says they have a lot more work to do before they can open.

"We are waiting until Monday to open. We have to put a lot of procedures in place," said General Manager Michael Boyle.

He is still working on a plan to limit the number of people allowed inside.

"I am looking at reservations-people setting up times to come in. We will also probably have a waiting area out front like they do at Costco and Safeway and only allow so many people in at a time," Boyle said.

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He is also looking at what it will look like inside.

"We have to have traffic flow signage. We have to have spacing between all of our machines, 6 feet of spacing. We have to have a whole lot of cleaning protocol," he said.

But he knows many of his members are anxious to get back.

"They've had their life disrupted quite a bit. There are some people who this is their whole life they come into the gym every day. It's going to be an adjustment for them but most of them that I have talked to are anxious to get back," he said.

Brazeal said there were cheers when people walked back in for the first time.

"Our members are like family to us so we were really happy to welcome them back and they felt the same way," she said.

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