Texas will join Mississippi as two of the latest states to lift their mask requirements. The mandate will end in Texas on March 10 while it ended in Mississippi on March 3.
The requirement for masks, which were in place to help to reduce the spread of COVID-19, meant that health club members had to wear masks while inside clubs although in some states they could remove them while actively working out.
Starting March 10, Gold’s Gym and Life Time will no longer require masks in their Texas locations, the companies announced, but both companies will continue to require employees to wear masks. Gold’s Gym will open at 100 percent capacity and will open its courts, some saunas and hot tubs. The company is allowing members uncomfortable with the lack of masks and 100 percent capacity to freeze their memberships for up to three months.
Life Time is opening all amenities but will require reservations for group fitness and small group training classes.
In Austin, Texas, many club operators are continuing to require mask wearing of members, according to KXAN, the NBC station in Austin. Austin Bouldering Project, Castle Hill Fitness, Crux Climbing Center, Hyde Park Gym and YMCA of Austin, all in Austin, Texas, will still require masks.
In Houston, Avenu Fitness & Lifestyle owner, Brent Gallagher, shared on his LinkedIn page that he will continue to require masks until at least the end of March as they gauge how the lifting of mask requirement goes in the state.
Texas and Mississippi joined three other states that recently lifted their mask requirements. The governor of Iowa ended the state’s mask requirement in February, and the Montana governor allowed the state’s mandate to expire last month. North Dakota’s mask mandate ended in January.
Eleven other states never had mask mandates: Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota and Tennessee.