All indoor gyms and fitness centres in the Tri-Cities will be closed until at least May 31.
The chief medical officer for Fraser Health, Dr. Martin Lavoie, ordered the immediate closure late Tuesday. It applies to weight training, gymnastics and martial arts facilities, as well as yoga and dance studios.
The order also covers common gyms in strata and housing complexes, Dr. Lavoie added in a teleconference Wednesday, but home gyms are exempt.
“Basically anywhere you can have a congregation of people playing sports, potentially sharing equipment, it would apply to them,” he said.
A provincial health order listing essential services and businesses allowed to operate (last updated April 3) doesn’t include gyms and fitness facilities. But Dr. Lavoie said the health authority had become aware of “a handful” of such operations that were still open and weren’t meeting requirements for maintaining social distancing and enhanced cleaning.
He said it took some time for inspectors to investigate those reports and any facilities still operating were directly presented with the closure order.
Failure to comply with a public health order can result in a warning or fines. But, Dr. Lavoie said, “I would be surprised if people would defy such an order.”
He said the order will be in effect until May 31, at which time it could be extended, revised or cancelled. He added the flexibility presumes that “at some point we will eventually start releasing some of these measures and slowly go back to more normal operations.”
Civic recreation facilities, as well as arenas and sports fields, in the Tri-Cities have been closed for several weeks, as well as most private facilities. Steve Nash Fitness World, the largest private fitness provider in B.C. temporarily closed all 24 of its locations, including two in Coquitlam, on March 25.
Many of those providers have pivoted to virtual and online programming, a move Dr. Lavoie commended.
