Staying active during coronavirus outbreak is no easy task. You’ve gotta get moving

Susan Melsa made the difficult decision to close her Overland Park yoga studio this week because of the novel coronavirus known as COVID-19.

But it wasn’t an easy decision, because she believes people must find ways to stay active even during this pandemic.

”It was the right choice, but it was very hard to do,” she said. “People need it right now.”

Melsa, owner of Core Energy yoga studio, said she is helping people stay involved with yoga through social media sites and will offer a live-streamed class for members starting Thursday.

While Melsa’s studio and many other fitness centers and large sports facilities in the Kansas City area have temporarily closed because of the coronavirus outbreak, staying active is certainly possible.

Like many communities in the area, the city of Overland Park has closed its Matt Ross and Tomahawk Ridge community centers as well as the Scheels Overland Park Soccer Complex. But the city’s parks, trails and golf courses remain open.

Curt Nelson, general manager and PGA master pro at the St. Andrews Club and Overland Park Golf Club, said the courses have closed their restaurant and banquet facilities and are taking extra precautions in other areas to keep things sanitary. But the courses were still open as of Wednesday afternoon.

Kansas City Parks and Recreation took the same approach, closing community centers while keeping parks and golf courses accessible.

The city of Belton decided to close Eagles’ Landing Golf Course for now, but Central Links Golf executive director Doug Habel said he knew of no other course in the Kansas City area that had shut down.

Nelson said he expects more people will want to get outside and play golf when the weather is nicer, but the courses will work to follow CDC guidelines to keep from having groups of 10 or more people gather together.

Some experts say getting outside to play golf at a time like this is beneficial.

“You’re not in contact with a whole lot of other people, and it’s not like basketball, where you’re touching and very close to other players, so you could maintain several feet of distance between people,” Catherine Troisi, an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, told Golf Digest. “Also, the outside aspect of golf is not trivial.

“With the caveat that there’s a lot about this virus we still don’t know, it is a kind of virus that has an envelope, which means that it’s more easily killed than some other viruses. Sunlight and other environmental conditions can kill viruses like this, so it is probable that that is true for this novel coronavirus, as well.

“So I would say in the actual playing of golf, you’re not at much risk.”

Cities are encouraging people who use the area’s parks and trails to follow CDC guidelines regarding gathering in numbers.

Jenny Radesky, a developmental behavioral pediatrician at the University of Michigan, told National Public Radio that it’s important for children to follow social distancing guidelines and stay 6 feet apart when at parks.

She advises avoiding playgrounds and other places where germs accumulate.

For those who don’t want to risk leaving their homes, some fitness centers are joining Melsa in offering at-home workouts on Youtube and other websites.

Rodney Steven of Genesis Health Clubs, which has more than 40 locations throughout the Midwest, stressed the importance of staying active while announcing the gyms would be temporarily closed.

He wrote: “In the nearly 30 years of owning Genesis Health Clubs, I could never imagine having to send a message like this or even contemplate this happening — exercise is such a major part of our lives that it is essential we keep moving.”