Dear Members, 

The question we get most often these days, and the question we ask ourselves almost daily, is when is the YMCA reopening?

You miss your workouts, your group fitness instructors, and the other members and staff that make up our community here at the Cortland YMCA. 

We hear you.

We’re looking forward to opening our doors and welcoming you all back into our facility, but before we do, we want to make sure that we can do it safely. 

Right now, we don’t know anymore than you do about when gyms can reopen under the state’s New York Forward plan. Our best guess is that gyms will be included in phase four. That feels like a long ways away right now, but it is so close.

Our leadership staff has been hard at work developing a plan to safely reopen once we get the go-ahead from the Governor. With recommendations and best practices changing so rapidly, our reopening plan won’t be finalized until we get the official recommendations and requirements for reopening from the state. 

At that point, we’ll finalize our plan, make sure we have enough supplies on hand, and train our employees on how to keep our Y a safe place to workout. That may mean that we don’t open on the day the Governor reopens gyms. Please be patient and understand that we are working hard to make sure everything is in place before we welcome you back in. The safety of our members and staff is our top priority, always.

As you’ve probably seen on the news, gyms look and operate a little different right now, as other states start to open their fitness facilities. Maintaining social distancing, frequent sanitizing, and reduced capacity are all being used to keep gym goers and facility staff safe. 

When it comes to reopening the Cortland YMCA, there is a very good chance that we are looking at our own phased reopening. Much like the state’s strategy, that means that some areas of our facility will likely be open before others, and that areas that are open might look a little different or operate under different rules. All of us, staff and members alike, will be learning new protocols and new ways of doing things. We expect there to be a learning curve as we settle in, but know that we’ll all learn and adapt as we adjust to the new normal.

When we reopen, our staff will likely all be wearing masks, but please know that we are smiling behind them as we welcome you back in. We’ll see you soon!