HCM people
HCM people Meticulous tracing and reporting of cases show, time and time again, that fitness centres and yoga studios are some of the safest places on the planet
Colin Grant CEO, Pure Group
Background In early March, a small facility in Hong Kong – Ursus Fitness – became one of the only gyms in the world to be the centre of a COVID-19 cluster, with more than 150 people, including customers, staff and their close contacts, linked to the outbreak. Here we give the background to the situation and talk to Colin Grant, CEO of Pure Group and chair of the Hong Kong Alliance of Professional Fitness and Wellness Operators about how the sector responded. Gyms in Hong Kong had only reopened weeks before – on 18 February – with some enforcing mask-wearing as a way to control COVID-19. Members were also obliged to use a ‘LeaveHomeSafe’ tracing app each time they entered the gym and fitness 16
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classes in Hong Kong had various limits imposed, from numbers to mask wearing and distancing. Timeline of the outbreak Before the Ursus outbreak, major operators in Hong Kong reported they were remaining COVID-free by following strict protocols. In response to the Ursus cluster, the government made mask-wearing mandatory in gyms (from Thursday 11 March) and on Friday 12 March – in a battle to keep gyms open – authorities ordered all 50,000 fitness industry workers in Hong Kong to undergo mandatory testing within two days (by 14 March 2021). Everyone in Hong Kong’s gyms must now wear a mask, except when eating, drinking and showering – a discipline already adopted in some other countries – it’s also mandatory for staff to wear masks at all times.
In common with many countries, the Hong Kong government is also now mandating partitions and the spacing of equipment at 1.5m. Some fitness centres temporarily banned members and PTs who frequent more than one gym, while others stocked up on rapid test kits to safeguard customers. Many closed temporarily for deep cleaning and to get employees screened. The rapid response brought the Ursus cluster under control very quickly and non-affected gyms were allowed to stay open throughout. Establishing the cause In a bid to establish the cause of the outbreak, a site visit was carried out at Ursus on 22 March between various departments of government, led by Hong Kong’s leading microbiologist, Yuen-Kwok yung and
