The center will also be consulting with health officials on when they can reopen.
The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit sent out a letter on Friday stating that due to the recent rise of COVID-19 cases in Oakland County, a planned reopening of the indoor pool and track facilities may be delayed as they monitor the spike and consult with health officials.
The updated plans come one week after the JCC Executive Team had announced its intent to reopen the facilities, forming a committee tasked with exploring new ways to offer fitness and wellness programming at the JCC after the decision to close its health club late last month.
The specific reopening date had not been decided on yet, but had been planned for early November.
Seeing cases going in a concerning direction, the JCC believed that reopening at the start of November could be more complicated than they originally thought, according to JCC assistant executive director Heidi Budaj. JCC officials will be consulting with the Oakland County Health Division again and will be carefully watching what the State Department of Health is telegraphing about having spaces like indoor pools open.
“The safety of our community is at the forefront of our decision so it is possible that we may need to delay the opening,” the JCC update said. “We will keep you updated as the situation changes and look forward to seeing you at the JCC very soon.”
The JCC hopes to have an update on the reopening plans in the second or third week of November, Budaj told the JN.
Budaj says they are still preparing and working diligently to make sure everything is prepared on their end, including getting physical spaces ready and MindBody app accounts active, in case they get approval from the Department of Health to open and get to a point where they feel they can do so safely.
Once the indoor pool and track officially reopen, the JCC has plans to keep both open until Memorial Day, when they hope to re-open their outdoor pool. The center was already planning to continually re-evaluate the reopening plan amid possible COVID spikes.
Michigan is currently experiencing its largest spike in COVID-19 cases since the beginning of the pandemic. Thursday saw 3,675 new cases and 41 additional deaths reported, including 22 from a delayed records review.
Those numbers bring the state’s total number of cases to 171,220 and total deaths to 7,298.