Do all gyms have to be locked down?
I own a small gym in Toronto. After more than four months of closure earlier this year, the Ontario government shut my business down again. Along with hundreds (if not thousands) of others business owners, this feels like a deep cut.
Clearly this affects my livelihood, but I’m even more concerned about my clients. This represents a major psychological blow to several clients who have finally gotten their health back on track after understandably floundering during the first lockdown.
Shutting down an entire sector of the economy is a blunt approach that felt acceptable during the first closure in March. Our gym actually decided to close our doors before it was mandatory. We were happy to do our part. But now that we know more about COVID-19 and have been projecting a surge of cases for months, is this the best the Ontario government can do?
I know this wasn’t an easy decision for Doug Ford’s government, but I’m at a loss to understand it’s justification for three primary reasons.
First, to the best of my knowledge there is no evidence that gyms in Ontario are a significant contributor to the spread of COVID-19.
Second, not all gyms are the same. I operate a small studio that does private training and very small group sessions with a high staff to client ratio. This is very different from certain high volume chain gyms that pack people in like sardines.
Like many facilities, we’ve not only sought to comply with all safety recommendations, we’ve gone above and beyond. We’ve changed our business model, pricing scheme and schedule, invest in new equipment, and dramatically reduce the number of members we coach. It doesn’t feel good to turn away clients who want to join our gym, but that’s what we’ve done over the last month in order to limit the number of people in the gym.
Our clients now workout in a pod that contains all of their equipment. Pods are large and spaced considerably more than six feet apart, face covering procedures are followed, equipment is thoroughly cleaned during breaks between sessions.
I recognize the logistical challenge of classifying different types of gyms and picking who can stay open and who can’t. But by ordering all gyms to close, the government has decided to close dozens of facilities that have been operating in a safe manner. The message is: no matter how hard you’ve worked to uphold the highest safety standards, it doesn’t matter. You’re going to be lumped in with the worst offenders.
Perhaps if the government was conducting widespread contact tracing, they would be able to proceed with a more targeted approach.
Third, why not give gyms clear direction on the parameters for operating safely instead of instituting a blanket closure? Surely there is some way to conduct fitness activities safely.
We’ve known that the second wave was coming for months. These scenarios should have been anticipated and guidelines should have been developed, even if they are inherently imperfect. At least we’d have a known standard to conform to.
The sad truth is that COVID-19 is going to be with us for the long haul. If the only policy option for dealing with a scary spike in cases is to close entire sectors of the economy, then we have a major problem and a giant failure in leadership. Two simple suggestions occur to me. First, criteria need to be developed to show businesses how to operate safely rather than simply telling them to either shut down or to operate only outdoors. This is so basic I’m gobsmacked that basic industry guidelines for “risky” businesses like gyms and restaurants haven’t been completed already.
At least give us an opportunity to stay open, even if we need to severely modify our services in order to do so.
Second — and perhaps this is wishful thinking — some mechanism should exist for businesses to differentiate themselves to get an exemption if they can prove they’re operating safely. I know this will be extremely tricky to implement fairly, quickly, and with a sufficient system for enforcement. That’s why some very clever people ought to be working on it.