As such, masks will be required for all members and guests of Equilibrium Fitness for Women during the entire duration of your stay.
Your continued support cannot be understated as we maintain our adherence to the public health orders serving to keep our community safe.
Our current classes will continue as scheduled. Bikes for cycle classes will be rolled outside on the back patio for mask-optional riding. Stay tuned for any additional updates.
How did we get here?
On June 26th, 2021, we recorded our lowest COVID-19 active cases in 2021 at just 31 active infections. Since that date, we have seen progressive weekly increases in both new cases and hospitalizations. In just two months time, SLO County's active cases shot up to 1,873 on 8/30/2021. We also reached record high hospitalization and ICU admittance since the start of the pandemic. All of this is avoidable.
The two main reasons we are experiencing our second worst surge of the pandemic is:
1) The nature of the Delta variant which creates a much higher viral load in its host and is significantly more transmissible that previous variants.
and
2) Vaccination rates are too low, and new vaccinations began to stagnate in early summer at the same time that most pandemic response restrictions were lifted. This is the primary reason we are seeing more hospitalizations. This is the primary reason we are seeing new mandates.
While the higher cases rates are concerning, the real reason we are seeing new mandates is due to the surge in hospitalizations and occupied ICU beds. Since June 15, 2021, 85.5% of all the hospitalizations in SLO County have been not-fully vaccinated people. And 76.9% of all COVID-19 infections have been among those not-fully vaccinated. Regardless of high case rates, if we were still seeing low severe cases requiring hospitalization, there would not be new mandates. This would be the situation if more people were vaccinated. Instead, 18 members of our community died in August and 20 are currently fighting for their lives in the ICU. The greatest travesty of this surge is that the majority of these deaths and hospitalizations are completely avoidable.
If you are not yet vaccinated, we implore you to get vaccinated today. If you know anyone who is not yet vaccinated, please ask them to get vaccinated today. Do it for your own health. Do it for the health of others. Do it for the kids who want to stay in school. Do it for the businesses who want to stay operating.
Stay healthy, Stay Active and Get Vaccinated!
David and Brittany Pomfret
