"Am I shaking right now?" Sports and Leisure Facilities Frowning Over COVID-19 Spread

Suspension of Operations at Various Sports Facilities in the Capital Area
Major Water Parks Also Operating Partially or on a Reduced Scale

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] As the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) continues unabated, many popular sports and leisure facilities are suffering from the repercussions of cluster infections.

Since the 8th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has recommended refraining from operating about 350 table tennis halls in the city and ordered compliance with infectious disease prevention rules. This measure was taken due to the continuous increase in confirmed cases related to sports facilities in Yangcheon-gu. Earlier, on the 29th of last month, despite the government suspending the operation of public multi-use facilities in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon areas for 17 days to curb the spread, cluster infections occurred, prompting stronger countermeasures.

In particular, the quarantine authorities' investigation confirmed that the initial COVID-19 patient in Yangcheon-gu moved between three different table tennis halls. The shortage of community sports facilities caused by COVID-19 has become another main cause of further infections.

As the operation of public and multi-use facilities in the metropolitan area is temporarily suspended, many local sports facilities have also become difficult to use. People who enjoy community sports such as soccer, basketball, and skateboarding in neighborhood parks in the city have lost places to go.

Sports facilities operated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government have already been completely shut down since the period of high-intensity social distancing, and even after that, it is difficult to find places where operations have resumed. Because of this, the number of people who cannot participate in their own groups and instead go to places like Gyeonggi-do or Incheon to play as so-called ‘mercenaries’ has increased. Even so, as the spaces available for exercise continue to shrink, it is not easy to find other groups to join.

As COVID-19 continues to spread, large water parks are also being affected. Caribbean Bay in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, announced a partial reopening from the 5th, but it remained quiet throughout the weekend. Although experts say the COVID-19 virus is unlikely to be transmitted through water, the number of visitors to water parks has noticeably decreased. This is attributed to the difficulty of wearing masks in such environments and the possibility of droplet transmission in changing rooms and food and beverage facilities.

The government has prepared water park usage guidelines through detailed social distancing measures supplementing existing water play facility guidelines, but these are also proving to be of limited effectiveness. Management measures such as controlling the number of users in auxiliary facilities like changing rooms and showers to maintain distancing, maintaining an average distance of over 2 meters between users of water play facilities, and limiting the number of visitors by time slots are difficult to enforce except in large water parks.

Concerns have grown further following a cluster infection at Lotte World in Seoul recently. In fact, Lotte Water Park in Gimhae decided to postpone its opening date, which had been delayed to the 30th of last month, indefinitely. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism also plans to conduct on-site inspections of about 200 water play facilities nationwide in cooperation with local governments until July.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.