This week, new research reminds us strongly that COVID-19 and the gym mix are not particularly good. Indoor body fitness classes are indeed a very effective way to transmit the coronavirus, according to two new studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Both studies looked at a COVID-19 outbreak that occurred at fitness facilities in Honolulu and Chicago in the summer of 2020 – including one cycling class where all participants were ill. That revolution was discovered in a Hawaii Department of Health study. For the study, contact detectives and case investigators linked 21 cases of COVID-19 to two fitness instructors who taught several classes in June and July 2020. They taught while infectious but before they had obvious symptoms.
One of those instructors was teaching an intense 60-minute indoor cycling class just four hours before his symptoms began later in the afternoon. The teacher and all the students were positioned at least six feet apart, but none of them wore masks when working out, according to the facility’s protocol, and the windows and closed doors. The teacher was in front of the class, “shouting guidance and encouragement,” the report says, and apparently spreading infectious respiratory droplets containing the virus. Over the next week, all 10 people who attended the class tested positive for COVID-19.
Of those infectious participants, one was also a fitness instructor, who would then be admitted to the ICU for a severe case of COVID-19. But before his symptoms improved, he taught several classes, unexamined, at a different facility – including a personal training session and three small kickboxing classes just 12 hours before his symptoms appeared. Of the 11 people who were open that day (five were also open to the instructor two days earlier), 10 would be positive for COVID-19 over the few days. The two students who wore masks and one of the teacher’s four personal training messages the day before were also good.
Another CDC study of gym-related issues in Chicago showed working at 25% capacity in the last week of August 2020. Out of 81 people who attended high-intensity indoor classes that week (with most going to several), 55 would discover COVID19. Participants brought their own mats and weights, went through symptom screening and temperature checks on arrival, and maintained a six-foot distance – but did not need to wear masks while working out. out. Out of 58 respondents, 76% said they rarely wore their masks. (Perhaps more alarming: 22 attendees who would be positive for COVID-19 went to class on the same day or after their symptoms started – including three who went to class on the same day or after they may have had a good test result, it is possible that some may have gone to class earlier in the day before they noticed symptoms later in the day.)
The second report is not surprising, of course, given what we know about the release of COVID-19 and the gym. In both case studies, public health experts found that a combination of poor mask wear, high-intensity exercise, lack of ventilation in an enclosed space, and extended intimacy were among the most likely features that enabled transmission. That all depends on what we already know about the coronavirus, which spreads mainly through respiratory droplets.
The safest way to work out this pandemic is at home or outside (alone or just with your other family members). And while the risk for attending from attending a fitness class with others will never be zero, as I SAID, it is possible to make the situation safer by moving it outdoors (or ensuring adequate airflow) and making sure everyone is using proper body speed and wearing masks.