NOVEMBER 5 • 2020 | 23
A
fter the closing of
its health club at the
end of September,
the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield
announced it would reopen
its indoor pool and track
this month. But that estimate
was revised due to the recent
rise of COVID-19 cases in
Oakland County, and now the
reopening may be delayed.
The JCC formed a commit-
tee tasked with exploring new
ways to offer fitness and well-
ness programming at the JCC
after the decision to close its
health club late last month.
That committee recommend-
ed the reopening of the pool
and indoor track.
The opening had been
planned for early November
but that is now up in the air.
The JCC had not announced
a firm reopening date as of
press time.
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 com-
munity is at the forefront of
our decision so it is possible
that we may need to delay
the opening,” a JCC update
to members said on Oct. 30.
“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 reopen
their outdoor pool. The cen-
ter was already planning to
continually re-evaluate the
reopening plan amid possible
COVID spikes.
Michigan is currently expe-
riencing its largest spike in
COVID-19 cases since the
beginning of the pandemic.
Oct. 29 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.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
JCC Plans to
Reopen Indoor
Pool and Track
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