The re-opening of bathhouses and the-like

[hungry_hole]

I'm probably not the only one who is wondering how will bathhouses and other similar establishments re-open after Covid-19 is under control.

Restaurants will probably start providing service by offering a higher level of safety, like having more room between tables and servers wearing masks and gloves. But bathhouses cannot start offering services like that because it's an all or nothing situations. Hairstylists can find ways to take precautions but there is a limit to the contact between people, like not spitting on customers. In bathhouses everything goes and it doesn't make sense to put any limits. How and when will bathhouses re-open?

[tighthole64]

I know EVERYONE is horny as fuck and will want to visit as soon as they reopen. Personally, I'll be staying away from them for quite awhile. There has already been mention of a possible second wave of Corona.

[viking8x6]

I would guess it will be as an AYOR sport. There are plenty of things now where you have to sign a waiver stating that the management is not responsible for injuries and you promise not to sue them; a great example is downhill skiing, where it's prominently printed on your lift ticket. People won't stop doing things just because they are risky. I can imagine the government trying to stop such things, too. If they got really authoritarian about it, the venues would just go underground, something like speakeasies during Prohibition.  I totally understand from a scientific and societal perspective the need to do something to limit spread.  However, I also believe that it is morally wrong for the government to dictate personal behavior beyond a certain point and that it would be more appropriate to emphasize education and providing people with the tools to do the right thing on their own. Personally, I'm jonesing for a vaccine.

[tallslenderguy]

i think we're going to see a lot of change as a result of Covid-19.  i'm watching all the restaurants i frequent, many have just closed, presumably for the duration. Others are trying to survive offering take out, when that wasn't their primary service prior to the pandemic.  i think a lot of small businesses will simply go under from lack of capital. 

it seems to me that prior to Covid, there was already a trend of bath houses closing down?  What business can go several months without revenue and survive?  Banks are gonna get richer.  The government will also, probably endorsing loans. Something like this has the power to further remove individual power and indepence. 

i think viking8x6 has it right when He alludes to a vaccine. Without a vaccine, lots of social activities will have to change, and some venues for those activities may not be able to change that much or that long and will cease to exist... at least for a length of time. 

 

[ErosWired]

Not only will bathhouses be strained on their margins by a percentage of their patrons opting to stay away, this will present a golden - if not irresistible - opportunity for moralistic elements to move to have them closed down by authorities as a menace to public health.

Pray for a vaccine, if you’re the praying type. Otherwise, just wish really, really hard.

Edited April 15, 2020 by ErosWired

[Rubberbanned]

2 hours ago, tighthole64 said:

I know EVERYONE is horny as fuck and will want to visit as soon as they reopen. Personally, I'll be staying away from them for quite awhile. There has already been mention of a possible second wave of Corona.

Same thoughts. I don't intend to be out and about after our community quarantine is over. I will give it around month more before I head out, and I intend to head out with caution still.

[hungry_hole]

5 hours ago, viking8x6 said:

I would guess it will be as an AYOR sport.

But this only after the health authorities have allow bathhouses to open. They first have to worry about hairdressers, dentists, pedicures, etc.

5 hours ago, viking8x6 said:

I can imagine the government trying to stop such things, too. If they got really authoritarian about it, the venues would just go underground, something like speakeasies during Prohibition.  I totally understand from a scientific and societal perspective the need to do something to limit spread.  However, I also believe that it is morally wrong for the government to dictate personal behavior beyond a certain point and that it would be more appropriate to emphasize education and providing people with the tools to do the right thing on their own. Personally, I'm jonesing for a vaccine.

Bathhouses will be the last venues to open. But it won't be because of morality or homophobia as some may suggest. With sexual infections one can be "responsible" by only having sex at the saunas or in other impersonal situations and make sure you never unwillingly infect someone outside the bathhouse. With the Covid-19 epidemic going to a bathhouse would be very irresponsible because a bathhouse is a Petri dish and then guys leave and infect people outside.

5 hours ago, tallslenderguy said:

it seems to me that prior to Covid, there was already a trend of bath houses closing down?

Absolutely. Bathhouses are not as popular as they used to be. Before the Internet hookups a Friday or Saturday night at the bathhouse the bathhouses were packed. Haven't heard of a waiting list  for a room in my local bathhouse in years. Sunday afternoons were busy too with lots of married guys.

Some bathhouses like Steamworks that offer a more modern version of the bathhouse may survive because more younger guys go to Steamworks.

[Bttm2go]

I’m sure this will be the final blow to a lot of bathhouses. Many of them barely hanging on the last few years. Can you imagine what their insurance premiums will be like if they can even get liability insurance. Also a lot of guys, me included, will not be going back until there is a vaccine for the virus. I sure hope some of them make it through. I have had a lot of fun at the baths.

[Rubberbanned]

1 hour ago, Bttm2go said:

I’m sure this will be the final blow to a lot of bathhouses. Many of them barely hanging on the last few years. Can you imagine what their insurance premiums will be like if they can even get liability insurance. Also a lot of guys, me included, will not be going back until there is a vaccine for the virus. I sure hope some of them make it through. I have had a lot of fun at the baths.

I wonder how bathhouses are strategizing on a business perspective, given the COVID-19 pandemic. Gyms are now offering online classes, restaurants are selling their raw ingredients, etc. --- but how about bathhouses? Makes me wonder.

[BB4fking]

I guess one step that may be required is a system for identifying and contacting customers that attend on a particular day to assist with contact tracing in the event of someone later testing positive. This will be expected even for restaurants etc. when my country gets out of lockdown. I suppose this will dovetail with the “membership” requirements for many US bathhouses so may not be hard to implement. I’ve always thought that those memberships were a scam to get more fees and since I only ever visit US cities for a few days at a time can rack up the cost. Membership and ID requirements rarer at bathhouses outside the US.

[cumtaker77]

19 hours ago, BB4fking said:

I guess one step that may be required is a system for identifying and contacting customers that attend on a particular day to assist with contact tracing in the event of someone later testing positive. This will be expected even for restaurants etc. when my country gets out of lockdown. I suppose this will dovetail with the “membership” requirements for many US bathhouses so may not be hard to implement. I’ve always thought that those memberships were a scam to get more fees and since I only ever visit US cities for a few days at a time can rack up the cost. Membership and ID requirements rarer at bathhouses outside the US.

In the US the membership is the key to making the sex part legal.  I can promise you though that if there before a way to track what members are in attendance on what day,I will not step foot in another bathhouse or restaurant.

[BB4fking]

4 hours ago, cumtaker77 said:

In the US the membership is the key to making the sex part legal.  I can promise you though that if there before a way to track what members are in attendance on what day,I will not step foot in another bathhouse or restaurant.

I’m not saying it’s unproblematic but In answer to the post’s question about “how” to reopen a bathhouse during or following a pandemic I’d expect a public health approach to require some methodology to assist with contact tracing. A refusal to attend a bathhouse because there’s a membership register ignores the fact that, as you say, it’s an existing US practice. To use the restaurant example, it is not dissimilar to a reservation system. The real difference would be compulsion on businesses to maintain a register (although it appears that this may be an existing legal requirement in the US) and to have it available if needed following an outbreak traced to someone who attended the bathhouse. If this system were implemented it would be desirable to have strong privacy and public health laws in place to ensure the information is protected and only used for the public health purpose of contact tracing. In the absence of legal protection a strong policy by the bathhouse business of confidentiality, except where needed for public health tracing, may suffice.

There may be better, more privacy-protective, approaches possible but the register is a low tech, practical and traditional approach.

Of course, unfortunately, my guess is that it is likely that bathhouses would be one of the last sort of businesses to get public health approval to reopen. Not for any reasons of morality but because of the necessary close bodily proximity of numerous strangers. I suspect they may have to wait until the virus is well under control - at least in those places where authorities are prioritising public health concerns over the desire of businesses to quickly reopen. Regrettably this may mean a comparatively long period of closure, which may be the death knell for some of our gay bathhouses. Maybe implementing credible processes to trace if needed will convince some authorities to permit earlier reopening.

[BB4fking]

On 4/16/2020 at 5:29 PM, Rubberbanned said:

I wonder how bathhouses are strategizing on a business perspective, given the COVID-19 pandemic. Gyms are now offering online classes, restaurants are selling their raw ingredients, etc. --- but how about bathhouses? Makes me wonder.

That’s a good question. Maybe after lockdown but before full reopening they could allow couples in - only a few at a time to ensure proper distancing  - to make homemade porn videos in a real bathhouse setting. 

[Spunkinmyarse]

The same problems will be faced by other establishments where close physical contact is the norm, whether sexual or not.  Ordinary night clubs, for example, where it’s usual to have a lot of people rammed together on the dance floor- I should imagine your chances of picking up COVID in that kind of environment are every bit as high as catching it in a bathhouse, if not higher.

I suppose busy clubs and bars could try to  impose social distancing rules in order to re-open sooner, but that’s not very practical, and under such circumstances I think most punters would stay away anyway.

In London, you need a ‘sex on premises’ license to operate a bathhouse, or a sex/cruise club or bar.  I wouldn’t be surprised if these licenses were suspended for a VERY long time.

Edited April 17, 2020 by Spunkinmyarse

[HardOneLA]

Hey guys, I agree with most everything you've already said - great points raised.  I agree that even if they were to reopen tomorrow I'd be wary of going back, despite the fact that I've never been so horned for cocks in my life before!  So I guess, like the economy, my hole will reopen slowly, in stages, receiving one cock at a time hopefully from non-Covid infected Alphas.  That being said, I truly can't wait for the day that Slammer in L.A. reopens.  When appropriate then I'm gonna whore myself out there life I never have before.  Oink!