Red zone rules to be relaxed
Gyms, spas and hotel swimming pools will be allowed to reopen in Montreal later this month. I wish I could believe there was science behind this decision and not the government simply bending to lobbying. It was with a sense of creepy déjà vu that I read that Italy is locking down again to avoid a new spike in infections…
Meezly 11:35 on 2021-03-13 Permalink
The article you shared from COVID-STOP the previous day confirms there is no science behind this decision and is based on a defensive pandemic management, and is not proactive at all.
Even Mylene Drouin said that a third wave linked to variants is expected in late March/early April by regional public health – just in time for the reopening. So it makes no sense.
Chris 11:32 on 2021-03-14 Permalink
What do you even mean by “science behind this decision”? Do you require a multi-year double-blind trial?
No one is forcing gyms to open, only allowing them. No one is forcing anyone to go to the gym, only allowing them. The gym crowd skews young, and they are less effected. There’s more and more people vaccinated already for the older crowd. There are zillions of people working in offices/buildings 8 hours a day, is 60 minutes in the gym going to be so much worse?
The ability to get exercise is an essential service.
Tim S. 16:33 on 2021-03-14 Permalink
“The ability to get exercise is an essential service.”
Sure. And it is still possible to go for a walk, run, ski, bike ride, to do your favorite 80s aerobic workout in your living room, toss around bags of flour, and do all kinds of other things. And in a month or so parks should be ready for outdoor groups. Not ideal for everybody, OK., but in a hierarchy of prioritization actual indoor gyms should be well down the list. I suspect opening them is more a product of lobbying than anything else.
dhomas 06:49 on 2021-03-15 Permalink
I think the problem here is consistency and messaging.
We’ll be allowed to go to gyms where people move throughout the establishment, go around touching multiple machines, dropping bodily fluids along the way.
Meanwhile, restaurants, where you mostly stay in one place with the same people you came in with, remain closed. This is just an example, but it seems odd that gyms get to open while other businesses don’t.
Meezly 09:41 on 2021-03-15 Permalink
If gyms are allowed to reopen they need to follow strict guidelines, ie. proper ventilation, zero tolerance for taking face masks off, physical distancing. Hong Kong had a recent outbreak of ~40! cases traced back to a gym where a few members exercised maskless. HK is about to enter a, what, 5th wave at this point?
Also you need to ensure that community transmission is low enough to warrant such re-openings. The new variants are also adding a level of complication, which the QC gov’t seems to be ignoring.
Again, the science is there that chances of transmission greatly increases the more heavily you breathe in a confined space despite physical distancing measures. Masks don’t guarantee safety, they can only mitigate.
No one if forcing anyone to workout in a gym, but it’s like Field of Dreams: if you open, people will come.