The Kalona Community Center has reopened with visitor limitations and restrictions in place. The community center temporarily closed in March due to growing concerns of the novel coronavirus, but plans are in place to welcome back members to the facility as of Tuesday. Branch Director Marcus Hall says a phased reopening approach will happen in order to follow state and federal guidelines. In this reopening plan, no guest passes or day passes will be accepted, only members of the YMCA are allowed to use the facility, but new memberships will be accepted. The cardio bay and weight room will have the machines spread out to facilitate social distancing. 

Hall tells KCII News how the COVID-19 outbreak will change the processes at the community center, “We’ve increased our staff. We’ve gone over our processes. Leading up to this, oddly enough, when you’re in a YMCA or manage a gym cleaning and having a clean facility is one of the pillars of success for us anyway. We were trying to up our game beforehand and I think naturally and intentionally we are going to try to up our game when it comes to that. But then I also hope that this leads people to respect the space and respect the equipment and respect others. If you leave a treadmill sweaty, before it was kind of the not nice thing to do and someone else had to clean it. Now, it seems like it’s a little more of a disrespectful thing or something that doesn’t show much affection to others.” Hall announced the community center will restart their group programs in the coming weeks as more restrictions are lifted. Programs that will return include youth t-ball and softball, as well as the Hardwood Academy Basketball Program for grades 2-12.