reopen in July, but then decided not to do so until the gyms in Ottawa are back in business. The reason, according to him, is because he would not be able to explain to his clients why the gyms are running again in the MRC but not in Ottawa.

“If I follow suit close to Ottawa, which is only 45 minutes away, then people will be like ‘Well if the gyms are open in Ottawa, we’re going to be fine here,’” he said.

He also has health issues which may turn fatal if he is contaminated with the virus.

About four years ago, Thompson was hospitalized for congestive heart failure, which in turn gave him diabetes and interstitial lung disease.

“Seeing that [COVID-19] is a lung disease very close to pneumonia – basically times 10 – if I do happen to get this disease, I’m dead within a matter of days,” said Thompson.

When he does reopen, however, there will be no limits to the number of clients present, as Extreme Fitness does not have that many to begin with, according to Thompson.

“My numbers have always been low, so after this happened, they just stopped,” he said.

He is just as lenient when it comes to implementing distancing measures.

“It’s not like there’s footsteps painted on the ground,” said Thompson. “Nowadays, people don’t even need those because they’ll look at you and they’ll move the other way.”

Nonetheless, members will be reminded by Thompson to prevent the spread of the virus or any other disease in being asked, for instance, to avoid scratching their face before touchin equipment.

He reckons it will take about a year after he opens his doors again for the gym to get back to usual numbers,as his clients to come back, who want to do so, but are wary of their health safety.

“A busy month for me is 25 to 30 members,” said Thompson. “I’m probably looking at 10 to 20 members for the first three to six months, slowly climbing.”

The vagueness of the government’s directives makes similar establishments, such as fitness studios, wonder whether they are legally allowed to reopen. One such example is Julia Clarke’s Body by Design on rue Victoria.

“I haven’t heard of any fitness classes up and running at the moment,” said owner Julia Clarke.

Despite the possibility of being allowed to restart, as long as these distancing requirements are in place, Clarke does not plan on opening the studio.

“My husband and I have talked about it,” said Clarke. “Of course we want to get back to doing what we love to do, but our hands are tied.”

Their expenses – which include rent, insurance, license fees and hydro bills – are another reason they chose to stay closed. Clarke said the studio would not be able to accommodate enough guests to cover these expenses and would be running at a loss

Furthermore, being asmathic, Clarke has only just recently been grocery shopping and her husband will not allow her to go to other public areas, so she is waiting for the number of cases to drop significantly before she considers opening her studio again.

As previously mentioned in a previous article in The Equity, Clarke has not moved her classes online. This is because there was not enough interest for this by her clients, according to her.

“The summer time is not the time when people want to come to class,” said Clarke. “A lot of people take the summer off and come back in the fall.”

Clarke said she could potentially be looking to rent a larger venue to hold her classes in the fall.

“In the past, we have rented the RA Hall in Cambell’s Bay or the gymnasium at the school in Cambell’s Bay and we have had massive classes there,” said Clarke.

If the pandemic is still around at that time, Clarke said she will then look at resuming her classes in the New Year.

Then, if Clarke and her husband continue to feel the need to keep their doors closed, they may go on a trip to see their families.

“At the end of the day, we want to work,” said Clarke.

Her feedback from the clients what drives her to continue what she does.

“It’s a whole win-win situation when you are together in a group like that and we all miss it” said Clarke. “But we cannot, we just cannot do that kind of thing until it’s going to be as safe as it can be for all concerned.”

There are, however, gyms in the region that have reopened their doors, such as the Pontiac Community Gym, which has done so last Tuesday.

According to personal trainer John Pomier, guests are provided with gloves and hand sanitizer upon demand. They do not need to book their workout in advance, since the gym currently has a capacity of six guests, with there usually only being one or two people on premises at the same time, according to Pomier.

“I clean every day,” said Pomier. “But when a customer is done, I go and clean all the machines again.”

Since this is a smaller gym, Pomier said he did not need to do much to the equipment to ensure physical distancing.

“There [are] two feet between all the machines,” said Pomier.

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