MONTREAL -- Gyms in Quebec's red zones are set to close for 28 days on Thursday but both owners and clients say they still have questions that the government has left unanswered.
Jimmie's Gym in Town of Mount-Royal, which specializes in training people between the ages of 50 and 70, was shut down once before during the COVID-19 pandemic's first wave in March.
The gym kept an online presence running until they were able to re-open in June with an outdoor setup. But owner Ali Le Pierres said it's unclear if they can do the same thing this time around.
“As an entrepreneur, you have to be ready to turn on a dime and innovate and change,” he said. “But when you're not given any guidelines to work with, it's just really hard.”
Le Pierres said his gym's indoor setup would make physical distancing easy. Equipment is disinfected after each use, further reducing the risk of virus transmission.
“We have two services, so we have semi-private and we have classes. The gym space is huge and the maximum number of people here is three,” he said.
A client who asked to be identified only as Carol said she would have no issues continuing her training.
“They have it set up in such a way that there's no way we're closer than two metres apart and, personally, I've had back issues my whole life. Coming here, I'm starting to get better,” she said.
