To avoid being closed down by new coronavirus restrictions, a gym in Poland has rebranded itself into a church so that it can stay open.
This comes after Poland’s Prime Minister announced that gyms, pools and aqua parks were to be closed, due to the rapid increase in Poland’s number of coronavirus cases.
The manager of the gym, which is called ‘The Atlantic Sports and Fitness Club’ and located in Kraków, said in a Facebook post that instead of fitness classes, it will now be a religious gathering of ‘Church of the Healthy Body’ and the gym will be re-known as the ‘Atlantic Store’, where people can test the equipment.
In the Facebook post, Marta Jamróz said: “Dear customers, we know you’ve been waiting for our decision…We were waiting for the regulation and we were hoping that despite yesterday’s press conference of the prime minister, someone would be wise and change their decision… Unfortunately we didn’t make it.
“So we have to act ourselves. Since the gym cannot function – in our place from today we are opening an ATLANTIC STORE with workout equipment – our PKD is also 4764 Z, so we can and we invite everyone who wants to test our machines for consideration.
“Since fitness classes cannot function – religious congregation of members of the pn union are starting today at our club, ‘Church of the Healthy Body’. Hard to believe? Everything is possible in this world. Enlightened Olek and Czcigodna Gosia invite you to special religious events today.”
Explaining why she was against gyms closing, she said:”Yesterday, as we learned about the government plans, none of us wanted to believe it though…If someone doesn’t want to come to the club, they don’t have to! So why do you close places where people care about the health and condition and follow all sanitary rules?!
“We are not only fighting for health! We are now fighting for survival! About our jobs! About the people who came back and missed us! That’s why – we greet our competition and other ‘kind’ people – but before you call where you want to call now to report us, think about whether you should fight too.
Adam Niedzielski, Poland’s health minister, tweeted: “I am terrified by the lack of responsibility of people trying to outdo each other in ideas to circumvent the existing restrictions. You are not only harming yourself, but you are putting others at risk – especially those at risk. This is extreme selfishness.”
According to the Worldmeter, Poland has over 183,000 coronavirus cases, 3,614 deaths and 94,014 recoveries.