The Arizona Department of Health Services states that people over age 65 or with serious underlying health conditions should avoid visiting pools at this time. Please consider your choice carefully!

Per the Pima County Board of Supervisors: “Every person must wear a face covering that completely and snugly covers the person’s nose and mouth when the person is in a public place and cannot easily maintain a continuous distance of at least six feet from all other persons.” Members are expected to maintain appropriate social distancing (six feet) while using the facilities, regardless of occupancy limits. Please bring a mask to wear in the event it is needed while waiting to enter or leave the facility, or if you expect to interact with staff.

What to expect:

All staff you encounter will have undergone symptom screening at the beginning of their shift.

Occupancy limits in pools and fitness rooms have been sharply reduced. HOWEVER, required social distancing (6 feet between people who do not live together), even when wearing a mask, is the higher priority. If required social distancing is not possible for the activity you prefer, you must change your plan or wait to enter the facility until someone leaves. It does not matter if the posted occupancy limit has not been met.

Guests are not permitted in any facilities at this time. Tenants and Additional Card Holders ARE permitted.

If you feel ill, stay home. If you have been in close contact with a person with an undiagnosed respiratory illness or a known case of COVID-19, stay home for two week after your exposure. Members who appear to be ill will be asked to leave.

Each member MUST PRESENT A MEMBER CARD to gain entry for EVERY VISIT. No exceptions.

Each member will fill out and carry a liability waiver prior to entry. (See “General Notes” above)

Restrooms will be available. Showers and lockers will NOT be available. Please arrive ready to exercise.

Drinking fountains and ice machines will NOT be available. BRING ALL THE WATER YOU USUALLY NEED FOR YOUR EXERCISE SESSION.

Pool noodles and life jackets will NOT be available. Members may bring their own, but may not share equipment with people they do not live with.

Water aerobics and water volleyball are not available at this time.

Yoga balls and therapy bands are not available in the fitness centers at this time.

Fitness center users, please wipe down machines and equipment as usual. Use a new wet wipe for each machine—this is not the time to conserve. Staff will be on hand to supplement your efforts but members are expected to wipe down machines! Please do an especially thorough job wiping down the display and touch areas of cardio equipment.

Maximum two swimmers/walkers per lane; entering and exiting only while the other swimmer/walker is at the opposite end of the pool.

Members should adhere to strict social distancing rules (six foot separation) aside from brief moments of passing others in pool lanes or in passageways.  WATER WALKERS WHO SOCIALIZE WITH FRIENDS AS YOU WALK, PLEASE TAKE EXTRA CARE! Save the whispered conversations for a phone call, later.

Congregating or lounging on pool decks will not be permitted. Members may briefly linger on the deck to dry off, if no other swimmers are waiting to enter the area.

Hand sanitizer will be readily available in all areas except the Canoa Hills basketball court.

Please note the time when you enter the pool deck or gym. Plan on limiting your time to one hour. If no one is waiting to enter the facility, you may stay longer than one hour, but you must leave if another member arrives to exercise.

Q: Why is this reopening going so slow?

A:   We have been directed to take it slow…

While Governor Ducey is permitting many of GVR’s facilities to reopen, he did not give the “all clear” signal. He explicitly directed businesses to open CAREFULLY, and to ensure that every feasible measure is taken to reduce the risk of COVID to staff and “customers” (members), and to ensure that members behave in ways that minimize the risk. He framed this as our patriotic duty because if an outbreak is traced to a pool or gym or meeting facility at GVR, it will have implications for all pools, gyms, or meeting facilities in the county or state. There is nothing preventing the county supervisors or governor from resuming lockdowns if they deem it necessary. Lockdowns are obviously very hard on the economy, locally and nationally. GVR agrees with Governor Ducey on this matter and we are taking our responsibility to the community seriously.

Green Valley has been fortunate to escape the higher infection rates of larger communities. It is likely that this fortune is the result of GVR and other gathering places shutting down in March. We do not want hastiness to cause a tragic reversal in this trend.

B:  Resources are limited…

Pima County and the city of Tucson—entities with far more resources than GVR will ever enjoy—have not reopened their recreational facilities and haven’t even published a projected date to do so. To abide by the Governor’s admonishment to ensure safety to the greatest degree possible, significant resources need to be applied to the problem.

Staffing is one of the resources GVR is short on right now. In order to provide the greatest level of safety possible, more GVR staff need to be in the facilities working with members than ever before. Our staff includes many people who are over age 60. Many have underlying health conditions or spouses with medical concerns. This has forced some staff to make the difficult decision to resign rather than resume their service roles. Others are parents who have no school, daycare, or summer camp options for their children. Filling open positions has never been easy for GVR, given that most folks who live nearby are retired and we cannot offer adequate pay to lure younger people from Tucson. In a pandemic, this problem becomes very serious. So we need more staff than we had, and it’s harder than ever to find them.

Q: How is GVR selecting the facilities that are reopening?

A: Sites are being selected based on a number of factors. Among them might be:

-Which facilities are available? Summertime is when GVR shuts facilities down to complete essential maintenance. Access is always limited in the summer as a result.

-Can we offer multiple amenities in one location to reduce demands on staffing (eg. a pool and tennis courts at the same center)?

-Can we provide a balance of access to northerly and southerly Green Valley residents?

-Do we have staff to adequately monitor use of the facilities?

-Has a club provided a thorough plan that ensures pandemic precautions will be observed? Is the club available to help GVR test and tweak the plan? Will they train club members to act as informal monitors?

Q: Why are some facilities available to clubs before the general membership?

A: See the last point above. For preliminary planning to resume club activities, Staff asked dedicated space clubs and a few sports clubs to submit proposals for reopening. Some clubs declined because they don’t yet feel it’s safe to resume their activity. Others submitted very thorough plans that inspired high confidence. In those cases, clubs and staff are working together to test out and tweak procedures. During this phase, the clubs might have exclusive access to the facility in question. GVR is grateful to these clubs and looks forward to continuing this level of collaborative planning as we continue to slowly reopen. Additional club activities are being considered and Staff will request details from Club Presidents as needed.

Q: Does GVR expect to be back to normal when the snowbirds return?

A: There’s no point in sugar-coating it. The answer is no. Experts agree that until an effective treatment or vaccine for COVID/SARS-CoV-2 is developed, manufactured, and distributed or administered to a majority of the population, life as we knew it before this pandemic is unlikely to resume, especially in retirement communities. Social distancing, rigorous and frequent hand-washing, sanitizing shared surfaces and items after each use, and wearing masks are a part of life for the foreseeable future. These requirements will have a significant impact on how GVR operates facilities that have been over-crowded for years. Furthermore, precautions do not eliminate risk. Staff will continue to fall ill with COVID, or be exposed to it and require quarantine, further affecting how we can operate. We hope to open in a modified fashion, every facility that can be reasonably offered, by the time the snowbirds return, but again, we will not make haste when the waste could be our friends and neighbors.

Q: Will GVR issue refunds for the closure period?

A: Under the Arizona Non-Profit Corporation Act, GVR’s Board of Directors is prohibited from refunding any portion of membership dues to GVR members. The Act states that a nonprofit corporation cannot use any of its funds to make monetary payments to members—including refunding dues payments.