It's now been one month since Toronto and Peel Region entered Stage 3 of Ontario's reopening plan, allowing more service types — notably gyms and indoor restaurants — to resume operations after nearly five months of pandemic-mandated closures.
We've yet to see any serious province-wide spikes in COVID-19 just yet (though public health officials say a "second wave" is inevitable), but we are starting to see more and more businesses close down on account of infections among staff members.
The Goodife Fitness at Mississauga Heartland Town Centre is the latest local haunt to warn customers of an employee testing positive for the coronavirus. Two of them, actually.
"GoodLife was notified on Friday evening that an associate at our Mississauga Heartland Town Centre club recently tested positive for COVID-19," said the gym's Vice President of Operations, Tracy Matthews, in an emailed statement on Tuesday.
"The associate has not been back in any GoodLife club since Wednesday, August 26, and is currently in quarantine at home. The associate informed GoodLife after receiving the positive test and we immediately informed members who were in the cub during the associate's shifts."
Unlike the GoodLife Fitness at Shoppers World in Brampton that shut down roughly two weeks ago in light of an employee's positive diagnosis, the Mississauga club did not close. It conducted deep cleanings overnight instead.
Then, on Monday morning, GoodLife was informed that a second employee at the Heartland Town Centre gym had tested positive for the virus.
"The associate has not been in the club since Saturday, August 29, and is currently in quarantine at home," said Matthews, noting that members and staffers who may have been in contact with the individual had been notified.
"In both cases, the affected associates took all appropriate health and safety precautions under The GoodLife Standard, including wearing a mask for the entire duration of each of their shifts, and neither associate came into prolonged close contact with anyone else in the club."
GoodLife has been pretty meticulous, even before reopening, with the implementation of its new pandemic health and safety rules, which include workouts by appointment only and a 30-minute "club reset" cleaning after each hour of member activity.
The brand, which is Canada's largest fitness chain, uses hospital-grade cleaning solutions on high-touch areas and surfaces, and performs nightly sanitization using "electrostatic disinfectant sprayers."
Still, despite such precautions, COVID-19 has made its way into at least two GoodLife Fitness locations in the GTA this month — and GoodLife is far from alone.
Reports of infections among retail and restaurant employees, many of who happen to be on the younger side, have been rising in Toronto this week.
Yesterday, an employee at Yorkdale Mall's JOEY restaurant was found to have tested positive for the virus, less than one week after a Foot Locker inside the same mall shut down on account of at least one (but potentially multiple) cases of COVID-19 among staffers.
The Dundas West bar Swan Dive voluntarily shut down this weekend after two customers were found to have the virus, and Sherway Gardens revealed just today that COVID-19 had been detected in employees at both The Keg and JOEY restaurants.
All the more reason to heed the advice of Toronto Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa to keep your distance, wash your hands often and wear a mask.
by Lauren O'Neil via blogTO
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