Closed Until Further Notice
Date: 15th March 2020
To all members of Suas Climbing Centre,
We have been monitoring the data about the current COVID-19 situation and considering how we should respond for the past few days. Things have changed quickly. The announcement by the government that all public schools will be closed took us by surprise and underscored the importance of staying ahead of the outbreak as much as possible.
We are not aware of any of our staff or customers testing positive for COVID-19.
However, after careful consideration and discussion, we have decided to close the Centre, effective immediately. While there is not yet proof of community transmission locally, the medical experts believe this is already happening and just not yet detected, and we are listening to them. Climbing centres are efficient places for such diseases to spread, and we would not want to find out a week or two from now that someone who did not know they had this disease had spread it throughout our community. We believe taking this action proactively, before it is too late, is the right thing to do.
The centre will remain closed until we and the relevant authorities believe it is safe to reopen, following the government’s lead on school closure duration. An extended closure will severely strain our resources. We intend to manage expenses responsibly to keep the business sustainable if possible. We ask our customers to help us do that.
Here’s what that means:
Members: Prepaid members will have their expiry dates extended by the number of days the centre is closed.
Youth Club: All classes are cancelled in line with the closure of the Centre
Other Events: All bookings for school groups, birthday parties, other events are cancelled in line with the centre closure.
All of this is very disruptive, to our climbing community and to ourselves. It will be a serious strain on the business, but everyone’s health and safety come first. We have already been hit with an insurance crisis late last year and managed to somehow weather that storm, it is our hope that we can weather this one too. In the meantime, we will continue work where possible on some maintenance tasks and other work to make sure the centre is in great shape when things settle down.
Thanks for your support. Please take care of yourselves and your families and follow the advice of the medical experts:
John and Dave
Owners, Suas Climbing Centre.
