Rejected petition Don’t close gyms and fitness facilities in tier 4
We know gyms and fitness facilities are vital for people’s mental health in an extremely challenging time.
Winter means it’s more difficult, and potentially unsafe for people to exercise outdoors in quiet dark parks and dangerous streets.
Previous firebreak evidence showed the effect on the R rate of closing Hess facilities would result in a ‘potential reduction’ of 0.1. While other things like places of worship remain open.
More details
We understand the need for action- to get COVID-19 under control, but when people’s mental health is already struggling, and many people are confined to small homes and flats (and have been for months), gyms have adapted to be COVID safe.
The Welsh Government’s own evidence on R rate reduction appears to back that up.
This is obviously a virus that feeds on obesity and poor public health; and in a nation that prides itself on early prevention in health the move to close gyms and fitness facilities in tier 4 is deeply disappointing.
Why was this petition rejected?
There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue, or if the Petitions Committee has considered one in the last year.
The Petitions Committee is already considering a petition on this issue: https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244240
The Committee has scheduled a Plenary debate on 13 January 2021 on petitions concerning access to facilities for sport and physical activity during lockdowns.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards
Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted