Today (Tuesday 6 October 2020), PAA President Sharan Simmons participated in a roundtable with Victorian Dept. Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the Dept. Jobs, Precincts and Regions (DJPR) to discuss Victoria’s roadmap for reopening for indoor sport and recreation.
The roundtable meeting was hosted by DJPR Head of Sport and Rec Victoria and included several community sport stakeholders. The Deputy Public Health Commander COVID-19 at DHHS, spoke on the public health considerations for the Victorian roadmap, including the underpinning public health principles of outdoor activity, masks, density quotient and number caps.
The Key to Reopening
Key to the Government decisions and the reopening roadmap are the social and economic benefits for the community and businesses plus the current international and local experience. DHHS information places indoor activities as higher risk than outdoor activities and this is reflected in the roadmap steps to ease restrictions. The criteria for easing of restrictions are designed to give DHHS confidence in the roadmap measures at each step. The numbers of unknown source cases are important to moving to the next step of the roadmap.
DHHS are continuing to work with DJPR who are representing all areas of indoor sport and recreation activities including Pilates. The Chief of Staff for Hon. Ros Spencer MP, Minister for Community Sport also attended plus several DJPR managers and staff who have been liaising with the sport and industry representatives and advocating on our behalf, presenting the information and plans to DHHS for consideration.
Each stakeholder identified the key points for their industry or sport to reopen and the protocols in place in other states and ready to implement in Victoria.
PAA Advocacy
The PAA continue to advocate Pilates is a low risk activity, relatively low intensity, highly supervised environment with booked appointments or sessions, and small class sizes. Many clients attending for management of injury and health conditions. We reiterated the ability of Pilates studios to comply with density quotients, distancing rules, strict cleaning practices, stringent hygiene protocols for staff and clients including no shared equipment to support the reopening of Pilates studios.
We will continue to work closely with DJPR staff to provide information to DHHS and advocate for the inclusion of Pilates studios in Step 3 reopening.
PAA Committee
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