Are you going to the gym safely during the COVID-19 pandemic? New research from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) highlights how much riskier it is to attend smaller fitness classes indoors than most people think – especially if gym goers do not wear masks while exercising.
One case study showed a Chicago resident attending an indoor exercise class while he was sick. The resident later tested positive for the coronavirus. The gym shut down quickly, but 55 of the 81 people who attended the high-intensity classes finally tested positive between August 24 and September 1, 2020. No one was killed, but one person was hospitalized for eight days.
The CDC estimates that 40 percent of people who became infected attended class the next day or the next. It is estimated that 76 percent of the participants regularly wore masks. Gym members brought their own weights and mats to classes, stayed six feet apart, and screened for class in front of the class, but not everyone wore a mask during the exercise. People also attended the class that awaited their COVID-19 test results and later tested positive.
“Most participants did not wear a mask during the exercise class; infrequent mask use as participation in indoor exercise classes probably contributed to the transfer,” the CDC said in their report. “In addition, the possibility that infected persons may infect others between their test date and the receipt of test results reinforces the need to be quarantined while awaiting a COVID-19 test result and that they are not unknowingly infected.
Experts say people should wait for the warmer weather to exercise outside.
“If you can wait until spring and go outside to exercise, it’s going to be a lot safer,” Joshua Epstein, a professor of epidemiology at the NYU’s School of Global Public Health, told The Washington Post. “We are by no means out of the woods. This is not the time to relax.”
Epstein added that this ‘high risk behavior’ has predictable consequences.
“It’s high breathing in an enclosed space,” Epstein said. ‘Yes, people brought masks, but apparently [a majority] said they rarely wore them, including some participants with covid. Some were symptomatic and others knew they were positive. These are all very, very high risk circumstances. ‘
In a separate CDC report, public health investigators linked 31 coronavirus infections to a fitness instructor in Honolulu who offered fitness classes at various facilities. According to the report, he hosted an hour-long cycling class with ten participants on June 29 – no one was wearing a mask. All participants tested positive for the coronavirus in early July. The outbreak resulted in one person being admitted to the intensive care unit. Honolulu has adopted emergency orders requiring face coverings in fitness centers, including during exercise. Previously, people could remove their masks while exercising.
Public health officials warn that masks should be worn while exercising indoors, except that people stay home while sick or await coronavirus results.
“To reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission in fitness facilities, staff and customers must wear a mask, and facilities must enforce consistent and correct mask use (including during high intensity activities) and physical distance, improve ventilation and remind customers of staff to staying home if they are ill, “reads the CDC.” Exercising outdoors or practically practicing can further reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission. “