City of Hamilton flexed rule-making muscles, but dropped the ball, leaving gym owners frustrated
Hamilton gym owners say they're frustrated after public health backtracked on its stance that new gym guidelines were mandatory this week.
It's difficult enough to run a business right now without this ambiguity and flippy-floppiness," said Zoran Dabic, owner of CrossFit Battlefield.
At a city council meeting Wednesday, councillors asked Hamilton's medical officer of health if public health's new gym guidelines - including spacing patrons three metres apart, wearing a mask at all times and allowing a maximum of 10 people per fitness class - were recommendations" or requirements." Local gym owners were under the impression they were required - and violating them came with a hefty fine.
In fact, they were recommendations, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson told council.
With that clarification comes some relief and some confusion. Gym owners wonder why, when bylaw officers stopped by last week, they were told the recommendations were rules and flouting them could net them a $10,000 fine.
Just not cool," Dabic said.
Dabic says he ensured his east Mountain gym complied immediately with the new so-called rules after bylaw officers stopped by with a letter saying the changes were requirements." But he had questions about the changes, so he reached out to city councillor Tom Jackson.
That's how the truth - that rules were not rules - came to light; Jackson raised questions at the meeting.
Dabic wonders if the public would ever know the measures were optional if he hadn't spoken up.
He notes he was losing revenue during the week things were unclear. To be compliant with the maximum of 10 people including instructors rule, he had to cut his client capacity from 12 to eight. He also lost clients when he enforced the masks-at-all-times rule, he said.
He's now in the process of flipping operations back, while still following Ontario's gym rules.
Over at 5 Star Fitness and Nutrition Centre in Stoney Creek, general manager Andrew Childs says he'll be sticking with the new guidelines. But he worries his competition won't.
Childs wants public health to be consistent and make recommendations bylaw-enforceable. Consistency would mean he wouldn't have to worry about losing clients to gyms with more relaxed rules. And it could avoid awkward confrontations in his own gym. For instance, when someone questions why they have to wear a mask at all times, he could say it's not him who makes the rules, it's the city/public health.
We're not bylaw officers, we're not police, we're just business people," he said. We just want to be able to operate our business in peace and follow the rules."
The province says public health could make the recommendations rules.
Local medical officers of health may introduce additional public health measures or restrictions through the use of Section 22 orders under the Health Protection and Promotion Act," said a Ministry of Health spokesperson. Alternatively, municipalities may pass by-laws to similar effect."
But that seems unlikely to happen any time soon.
Monica Ciriello, the city's manager of licensing, said while the new guidelines remain recommendations," gyms are encouraged" to follow them, at least until the province revises rules.
A provincial review of gyms - prompted by Hamilton's SpinCo superspreader outbreak, which saw 85 people infected - is still underway. Hamilton's new guidelines came in the wake of the same outbreak. Prior to the city's new guidelines, up to 21 maskless people could spin in a room for an hour - and still be following guidelines.
Ciriello noted the new guidelines are intended to be applied to high-intensity activities and workouts such as Zumba, spin and hot yoga, as opposed to lower-intensity workouts such as fitness classes, dance studios and arena sports.
To help clarify the confusion about rules versus recommendations, a followup letter is going out to gym owners this week, she said.
Katrina Clarke is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach her via email: katrinaclarke@thespec.com