Regina gym owner says it's unfair for aerobics class to be more restricted than other activities

A Regina fitness facility owner is frustrated with the new provincial restriction that limits aerobics classes to eight people.

Tracy Read, who owns Readiness Fitness, said the restriction doesn't take the size of facilities into account and makes for an uneven playing field when other gyms and sports don't have to follow the same guidelines.

"Pre-pandemic we had like 30 to 40 people in a class. Then with the three-metre rule, we had 15 people in class," Read said.

"So now to be dropped again to eight people per class, super frustrating, especially because they're not taking square footage into effect."

Read said they have a 5,000 square foot facility with plenty of room for physical distance and are following all of the protocols.

"I would love for there to be some sort of inspector or something that goes out to each facility and says, 'OK, yeah, this looks good. You know, you could have 15 people in this space and be extremely socially distanced.'" 

Read said it's not fair that her classes are limited to eight people while contact sports or other gym activities don't have the same limitations.

"Things that come to mind are like boxing, any kind of fighting class, that's considered a contact sport. So they get to continue with 20-plus participants and they're physically touching each other. There's no three-metre rule there."

She said sports like hockey, cheerleading and soccer all have close contact, and large gyms can have more people on treadmills or rowing machines as long as they are two metres apart.

"There's a huge disconnect here, huge disconnect," Read said.

 Dr. Anne Huang, a former Saskatchewan deputy medical health officer, said Read has a point.

"I would question the scientific evidence behind the recommendation of capping the same type of high-risk activity at eight people, but not other types of activity that's considered to be just as aerobic and higher risk," Huang said.

"If you think about it, if we are still allowing hockey players to play, that's highly aerobic exercise and the players are actually breathing quite heavily."

Huang said the province needs to base its COVID-19 risk mitigation recommendations on the latest and best available scientific evidence.

She said respiratory aerosols containing the virus are released when an infected person simply speaks or breathes, but more are released if you are yelling, singing, breathing heavy or coughing.

"A person can become infected if he/she inhaled enough of the viral particles lingering in the air space," Huang said.

She would like to see mandatory masks even when exercising and also a look at the ventilation and filtration of indoor spaces.

Huang said some bioaerosol scientists are recommending the use of a CO2 (carbon dioxide) sensor to gauge the level of potential infectious respiratory aerosols exhaled by participants.

Huang said the government could use these sensors to guide indoor physical activities instead of imposing an arbitrary maximum. 

Read said she is all for having guidelines, but wants everyone to be following them.

"If wearing a mask could potentially save my business, of course, I'm going to wear a mask. Of course I'm going to get my clients to wear a mask. It's something very simple," Read said.

"I need some clarification from the government on why it's eight people, regardless how big your space is."