Good Evening OGC Parents,

First, we would like to thank you all for your patience and understanding as we tread through the unknown.  As you know, we were notified of an OGC gymnast that was a confirmed positive for COVID-19.  Upon learning this, one of our Board Members immediately contacted the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) and another contacted and left a message for the Steele County Public Health Director for guidance.  Unfortunately, as the day wore on, we had not yet heard from Steele County and as a Board we made the decision to close the Club effective Wednesday, October 28, 2020 for the near future.  Again, as you know, we met as a board on the night of October 28, 2020 and had not yet heard back from Steele County Public Health.  Given the limited information we had, we made the decision to close the Club until Monday, November 2, 2020 while we conduct a deep cleaning with the plan to welcome the Programs/Teams back that had not been exposed.  The individuals that had contact were notified that they would not have practice for 14 days. 

On Thursday, October 29, 2020 we had direct contact with Steele County Public Health.  We were commended on our plan and efforts to curtail any further potential exposure.  Steele County Public Health has informed us that “close contacts” are those individuals that were in close contact with the person confirmed positive 48 hours prior to symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test.  The confirmed test occurred Monday, October 26, 2020.  Given this information only those with “close contact” since Saturday, October 24, 2020 needs to quarantine. We have reviewed and believe that, beyond the one positive COVID case, no other OGC gymnasts were included in this group and therefore, per the guidance from Steele County Public Health, no OGC gymnasts are required to quarantine.

At this time, the OGC Board of Directors has decided to reopen the Club for all programs and Teams beginning Monday, November 2, 2020. We are still utilizing the next few days to conduct a deep cleaning of the gym to prepare to welcome the gymnasts back to a clean environment.

Again, we cannot thank you all enough for your patience and understanding as we continue to make every effort to ensure our gymnasts and staff are safe.  We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.  We understand the communication thus far may have been a bit vague, but again, we were going with the limited information we had to come up with a plan to keep everyone as safe as possible.  Please be assured, these decisions were not come by quickly. We will learn from this experience and be better prepared with a process given what we now know. If there are any further questions, please feel free to let us know.

Thank you and have nice evening and weekend.

OGC Board of Directors

Gymnastics is a fast-growing sport that provides all children with the opportunity to improve their coordination, strength, flexibility, balance and confidence – in a fun and exciting way! What kid doesn’t love to run, tumble, bounce and flip?  The Owatonna Gymnastics Club offers classes for ALL ages and abilities in a high-quality gymnastics facility. Our coaches are well trained in safety and proper technique, and love working with kids! Safety comes first, but fun is close behind! We hope you’ll give gymnastics at OGC a try!