Re-opening rinks with social distancing

MacMadame

Doing all the things
Messages
58,289
I agree @Jozet this was very helpful! And it's still helpful if you just put those newcomers on ignore.
I've got all the ones who don't actually discuss anything on ignore. :D

I think when coming up with policies, people need to think about what would happen if someone tests positive. If it's a skater, they just don't come to the rink for 2 weeks. But for all the people they come into contact with, is it practical for them to just not come to the rink? If half the employees came into contact with the infected person, that will make it hard for the rink to stay open while they can't work. But for the coach, that means they lose 2 weeks of income!

This is not to say that the rinks shouldn't open until there is a vaccine or good treatment. It's just to say they need to think about these things when creating their procedures. As an example, maybe have rink employees work 14 days on, 14 days off so there are enough to fill in when half of them have to stay home. And coaches might want to team teach with shared revenue if one has to quarantine. Or they may say "no dance holds" even if they are allowed.

P.S. Even though I stopped skating years ago, this thread has been very helpful to me to figure out some logistics for another event I am involved with the planning. That's why I came here in the first place.
 

Lemonade20

If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
Messages
2,379
I've got all the ones who don't actually discuss anything on ignore. :D

I think when coming up with policies, people need to think about what would happen if someone tests positive. If it's a skater, they just don't come to the rink for 2 weeks. But for all the people they come into contact with, is it practical for them to just not come to the rink? If half the employees came into contact with the infected person, that will make it hard for the rink to stay open while they can't work. But for the coach, that means they lose 2 weeks of income!

This is not to say that the rinks shouldn't open until there is a vaccine or good treatment. It's just to say they need to think about these things when creating their procedures. As an example, maybe have rink employees work 14 days on, 14 days off so there are enough to fill in when half of them have to stay home. And coaches might want to team teach with shared revenue if one has to quarantine. Or they may say "no dance holds" even if they are allowed.

P.S. Even though I stopped skating years ago, this thread has been very helpful to me to figure out some logistics for another event I am involved with the planning. That's why I came here in the first place.

You make a valid point. It would be difficult to enforce the policy of “if you’re sick, stay home” when someone is determined not to miss out on their skating time. For those who aren’t on the ice, I would make masks mandatory. Hand sanitizers should be available. Beyond that, it’s up to each arena to decide what’s the safest way to proceed when it comes to numbers
 

Theoreticalgirl

your faves are problematic
Messages
1,345
I've got all the ones who don't actually discuss anything on ignore. :D

I think when coming up with policies, people need to think about what would happen if someone tests positive. If it's a skater, they just don't come to the rink for 2 weeks. But for all the people they come into contact with, is it practical for them to just not come to the rink? If half the employees came into contact with the infected person, that will make it hard for the rink to stay open while they can't work. But for the coach, that means they lose 2 weeks of income!

This is not to say that the rinks shouldn't open until there is a vaccine or good treatment. It's just to say they need to think about these things when creating their procedures. As an example, maybe have rink employees work 14 days on, 14 days off so there are enough to fill in when half of them have to stay home. And coaches might want to team teach with shared revenue if one has to quarantine. Or they may say "no dance holds" even if they are allowed.

I honestly don't think some rinks are forward-thinking enough in their strategic planning to address the What-Ifs! And the lack of contact tracing technologies here in the US pose another challenge.

It's also worth keeping in mind that many rinks employ staff that are being paid minimum wage without benefits. It's unclear what protections, if any, rinks are supplying these workers. That's another reason I don't feel comfortable setting foot in a rink—I would hate to put a vulnerable population at risk.
 

overedge

Mayor of Carrot City
Messages
35,799
I honestly don't think some rinks are forward-thinking enough in their strategic planning to address the What-Ifs! And the lack of contact tracing technologies here in the US pose another challenge.

It's also worth keeping in mind that many rinks employ staff that are being paid minimum wage without benefits. It's unclear what protections, if any, rinks are supplying these workers. That's another reason I don't feel comfortable setting foot in a rink—I would hate to put a vulnerable population at risk.

Also, I hate to keep saying this, but there are skating parents who can't be relied on to be honest about their kids' health or testing status. Or their own.
 

Aussie Willy

Hates both vegemite and peanut butter
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27,871
I'm sorry that my ability to have a different viewpoint from someone and still be compassionate towards their concerns is so offensive to you. When @MacMadame wrote her post she expressed her viewpoint and said that nothing will change her mind and guess what, that I can understand. When you take the personal attacks away like she did, it becomes a two way conversation where people can disagree and respect at the same time.

I find it fascinating that your entire agenda here is to shove only your viewpoint down everyone's throat and if someone disagrees with you, it's time to attack them. But hey, you do you. I have better things to focus my time and energy on.
It has been quite clear seeing you are new here that you came onto this forum with an agenda. The people who you dealing with are long time members of the forum who have gotten to know each other over a number of years. So they have earnt respect from those of us who have also been on here for a number of years. We know from our dealings that they are reasonable people who look at the bigger picture but also apply due diligence. Unfortunately if you are new and come on here to seek political mileage for your POV then it isn't going to happen. So don't be surprised you haven't been welcomed with open arms and others may be jumping to the long time members' defence. The rest of us can tell by the conversations that these are local issues that have been brought onto an international forum.
 

antmanb

Well-Known Member
Messages
12,639
This is not to say that the rinks shouldn't open until there is a vaccine or good treatment. It's just to say they need to think about these things when creating their procedures. As an example, maybe have rink employees work 14 days on, 14 days off so there are enough to fill in when half of them have to stay home.

I think the problem with this at my rink would be that they don't have sufficient staff to cover 14 days on and 14 days, plus the staff that currently work there wouldn't want to lose their full time job and turn it into a part time job. While the rinks are closed they will be on 80% pay on furlough (at least until the end of July), if they were covering similar shifts full time for just 14 days they'd drop to 50% of their salary and would be unlikely to make their bills.
 

MacMadame

Doing all the things
Messages
58,289
I think the problem with this at my rink would be that they don't have sufficient staff to cover 14 days on and 14 days, plus the staff that currently work there wouldn't want to lose their full time job and turn it into a part time job. While the rinks are closed they will be on 80% pay on furlough (at least until the end of July), if they were covering similar shifts full time for just 14 days they'd drop to 50% of their salary and would be unlikely to make their bills.
I was thinking that if they worked 14 days in a row, it would be 14 days, not 5 days every week for a total of 10. And maybe more than 8 hours each day. So they'd be getting paid for more than a FT job the days they are on and hopefully, it would make up for the 14 days off.

Also, I am not 100% sure if rinks in the US have a lot of FT employees. I get the impression they are mostly PT already like they are in retail and food service.
 
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antmanb

Well-Known Member
Messages
12,639
I was thinking that if they worked 14 days in a row, it would be 14 days, not 5 days every week for a total of 10. And maybe more than 8 hours each day. So they'd be getting paid for more than a FT job the days they are on and hopefully, it would make up for the 14 days off.

Also, I am not 100% sure if rinks in the US have a lot of FT employees. I get the impression they are mostly PT already like they are in retail and food service.

My rink is in a sports complex with a gym and outdoor five aside football pitches. The overall staff number is fairly low (it's council owned) and they're all full time. The other issue, in Europe at least, would be that we have the Working Time Directive that dictates how long people can work for and it's 48 hours a week. Employees can opt out if they like but employers can't force them do and a Public Authority is not likely to risk something like that.
 

GarrAargHrumph

I can kill you with my brain
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19,434
Going on a different tangent. I am curious how the different clubs/rinks are handling pre-paid fees.

For instance if you prepay for a month of freestyle ice, did you get a refund/credit for when the rink was closed?

For the Learn to Skate sessions, one rink I skate at told parents they could choose: either a refund for the remaining LTS sessions, or credit toward future LTS sessions. At another rink, at first they put the classes on hold with no refunds, then ended up offering refunds as the closing went on.

For freestyle sessions: none of the rinks that I go to have subscriptions. Instead, you buy a card for, say, 10 sessions. At one of my rinks, those sessions do expire after a certain amount of time (and I really do need to contact them to ask if that's being extended), but at the others, they don't expire.
 

Rollersk8Icesk8

New Member
Messages
6
Wow and just like the rap figure skating gets, it’s great to see all of the bullying here. Seems like there are a few old-heads in this board that could use a new opinion, a new way of thinking. Glad you are all friends - looks like you can only be friends with those that think EXACTLY like you. Maybe this is why the sport of figure skating dies a little bit each year. Maybe if people were opening and welcoming and had a damn smile on their face once in a while, skaters would be flocking in the doors and onto the ice. Instead you have a group of middle school bullies, unwelcoming to new ideas and new ways of thinking. My apologies to those few of you that made this newcomer feel welcome. I’ve posted on other boards/threads and they have been very welcoming. And I’m not even from PA so thanks for that grouping. So glad the small-minded posters can just ignore my message, then they can’t get their feelings hurt. Cheers to the group of friends that will never grow past where they are today - but hey, you do you! ✌🏼
 

antmanb

Well-Known Member
Messages
12,639
UK announcement/guidelines from yesterday that was giving more lockdown easing instructions specifically said outdoor rinks could open (in the middle of summer?!) but indoor rinks were not allowed to open...since they were called "skating rinks" i thought it was probably to catch skate parks, but then i remembered that our local skate parks have been open for a few weeks now anyway.

Anyway all that said it doesn't look ice rinks will be reopening yet in the UK. I'm guessing they'll be reopen when other indoor leisure/gyms reopen.
 

Bunny Hop

Queen of the Workaround
Messages
9,412
Anyway all that said it doesn't look ice rinks will be reopening yet in the UK. I'm guessing they'll be reopen when other indoor leisure/gyms reopen.
That was what happened here in New South Wales. Rinks were in the same category as gyms etc. All of which were allowed to open again last week.
 

Sylvia

TBD
Messages
79,989
Anyway all that said it doesn't look ice rinks will be reopening yet in the UK. I'm guessing they'll be reopen when other indoor leisure/gyms reopen.
British Ice Skating was not happy about it yesterday: https://www.instagram.com/p/CByYDJ-JXDE/

ETA:

 
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GarrAargHrumph

I can kill you with my brain
Messages
19,434
My rinks don't have any info about reopening up on their websites yet. But one rink has told me that students can only be on the ice when they are in a lesson with their coach, and all sessions are one hour. Beyond that, I don't know yet.
 

overedge

Mayor of Carrot City
Messages
35,799
My club has booked ice time at a private facility (it usually runs out of a city-owned facility).

However, I looked at the rules for the facility, and while it's doing most of what would be expected to avoid the v*r*s, its common areas are filthy most of the time. So I'm not confident in its ability to upgrade its cleaning. Plus the rules say that contact is "unavoidable" during hockey games, and it won't be enforcing social distancing in those situations.

If the rink was only open for figure skating, then I might consider going if the cleaning issue was resolved. But if hockey's being booked as well, I'm definitely not going.
 

Lemonade20

If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.
Messages
2,379
Some rinks are reopening around August, and this is in a place I live where we haven’t had any new cases in 3 weeks.
 

bladesofgorey

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,082
Some rinks are opening in MA. My mom's home rink is due to open Monday, and she had an on-site visit at a rink within the same system that has already opened last week and was pleasantly surprised at how well that rink is creating a safe environment and enforcing distancing and additional protocols. She observed a freestyle session and it went very well- limited numbers of skaters (only 10 and 4 coaches is the limit), everyone in masks, coaches near the boards and keeping distance even with working with students, no lingering in any rink areas, etc. She's hoping her rink will feel the same and she's happy to also return to coaching at the rink she visited based on how well she felt supported as a potential staff member there given her age and personal risk category. So some rinks seem to be able to do this well if they actually prioritize health and safety- of course whether they will continue to (and can afford to) will remain to be seen.
 

GarrAargHrumph

I can kill you with my brain
Messages
19,434
I'll be back on the ice on July 7 in New Jersey. No bags are allowed into the rink, you have to pay/sign up for your time slot in advance, you can only skate under the supervision of your coach (so you sign up for an hour, your lesson is an hour), and the price went up by $4; and you can't use any passes for now.
 

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