Rejected petition Set a date for gyms and fitness to resume within a reasonable time, along with non-essential shops
on the 1st of febuary 2021 Eluned Morgan announced gyms would be one of the first to be considered for reopening, flash forward to 24th febuary and the welsh public has recieved no information regarding gyms or fitness, however non-essential retail could reopen in 2 1/2 weeks time.
Gyms and fitness provide not only a physical benefit, but a mental benefit, we're also at the coldest, wettest period of the year, it makes no sense to allow people to exercise outdoors in freezing, wet weather
More details
suicde has increased since lockdowns have been implimented, gyms and fitness would help a great deal to reduce this https://www.itv.com/news/2021-01-28/increase-in-suicide-related-calls-at-half-of-englands-ambulance-services-over-lockdown
gyms in particular reccorded and exceedingly low transmittion rate, lower than supermakets, with supermarkets reaching almost 20%, whereas gyms reaced 1.1%, Mark Drakefords excuse of "any small risk is too much of a risk" in this instance does not justify keeping the fitness industry closed to the public, especially when mental health and fitness of the population has deterioated and suicde has increased!
https://www.itv.com/news/2020-11-19/covid-supermarkets-revealed-as-place-visitors-and-workers-are-most-likely-to-be-exposed-to-coronavirus
UkActive has stated they've not recieved any reasons why gyms and fitness cant resume and the public has been shown no evidence either, however "elite" sports can resume, which is elitist and discriminatory.
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.
Other petitions calling for this are already collecting signatures:
Open gyms on March 15th to support the mental health and physical well being of people https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244718
Provide a clear roadmap for lifting lockdown restrictions in Wales, and the thresholds required https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244702
Workout To Help Out Scheme https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244662
The Petitions Committee is also already considering petitions on this issue:
Keep gyms open and consider them as important as shops should another national lockdown take place https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244240
Allow all non-essential retail shops to continue to trade whilst under the 17 day lockdown https://petitions.senedd.wales/petitions/244317
People who create petitions are also required to provide a full, real name, as well as their address and contact details. Sorry if this wasn’t clear to you.
We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards
Rejected petitions are published in the language in which they were submitted