West Kelowna gym set on staying open despite restrictions and warnings from Interior Health and RCMP

A West Kelowna gym is set on keeping their doors open, despite provincial orders set out last week requiring fitness centres to close.

Iron Energy Fitness Centre Gym shared they are "not willing to comply anymore," and they're frustrated over the province's decision to allow for restaurants and cafes to be open, but not exercise facilities.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued a public health order effective Dec. 22 forcing the closure of gyms and fitness facilities, after COVID-19 case counts rose rapidly across the province. Cases have continued to rise to unprecedented levels, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads throughout B.C., and across the world.

Two of the owners of Iron Energy, Cole DaSilva and Brian Mark, spoke to Castanet about their decision to stay open, stating their entire team, which also includes Brett Godin, Amy Web, Kirsten Mark and Morgan Delaronde, were on board with remaining open.

Mark says up until this point, the gym has followed all health and safety protocols, vaccine passports and social distancing requirements.

"We've been doing everything that the government has asked and yet, we're still getting shut down. And honestly, for us, we have 1,300 members right now. And as owners, this gym is not about the owners, the gym is about the members," he shared. "What we really care about is the fact that we have 1,300 members that rely on us for their mental health.

"We understand that COVID is a very real thing, and we don't discredit all of the bad things that have happened during the pandemic. But at the end of the day, I also think you need to look at the other effects that are coming in from shutting all these things down."

The owners echo what other gyms have argued – that allowing shopping malls, restaurants and bars to remain open while closing fitness facilities feels unfair.

"It's honestly something that we've been very confused on because you have restaurants open where you can sit down in groups of six where nobody's wearing a mask, they're all eating food and the restaurant is full, regardless of it being 50 per cent capacity," DaSilva said.

"To be following all the rules if we do everything that the government says and then to get the rug swept out from underneath our feet. It's just disheartening," Mark explained.

The team argued that they want to see more substantial evidence from the government about larger case numbers coming from gyms.

"We're all talking about how we can stay home, stay safe, etc. But nobody's talking about boosting immunity and nobody's talking about how exercise is going to improve your overall health," Mark added.

Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry was asked during a news conference last Friday about the group of Kamloops gyms that were vowing to stay open.

She said exposure events and case clusters have been linked to gyms and fitness facilities a number of times in B.C. during the pandemic dating back to the summer of 2020, after they were allowed to reopen with pandemic protocols in place.

“Gyms must close during this period,” she said, suggesting fitness facilities transition to remote class instruction.

“Right now, we’re in a place of real uncertainty with a lot of transmission in younger people in the demographic that is really connected to their gyms.”

In a press conference with the province on Friday, Health Minister Adrian Dix was asked whether the many smaller gyms that have decided to stay open in the Interior region despite public health orders will be forced to close.

"Public health orders will be enforced and I suggest that people follow them," he answered. "These measures weren't put in place because anyone wanted to shut anything down or to limit any activity.

"There are things that we could do safely that in normal times are good for us that we can't do right now, because of the extraordinary explosion of cases of Omicron and of COVID-19 in BC."

Dix encouraged those to follow these orders, which were put in place until at least Jan. 18.

"We don't want to engage in enforcement actions because frankly, we're busy," he said. "What we'd like people to do is to follow the rules and we expect them to do so. I know how hard it is for people in the fitness industry who've done a very good job through this period of 2021."

He finished by stating that the decision stands because the Omicron variant is different and it doesn't allow for some of the activities that were allowed previously.

"It seems like every month there's another mandate that comes up, there's another thing that comes out," Mark said.

"We fully understand that this is going against what the government's asking but we also think that what the government is asking just doesn't make sense."

In a video shared to social media on Friday, owners of the gym and members alike share why they feel that gyms should remain open. Mark added that 95 per cent of the feedback from the public they've received has been positive.

Interior Health and the RCMP told the gym to close on Friday, after it had been open and operating for the past week, according to Mark and DaSilva. But they say they're refusing to comply.

"We are going to be opening. We are aware that an RCMP officer and Interior Health has issued that they're going to give us fines and so be it. If that's what it takes to wake up B.C., then we'll be the first people to take it on the chin."

The Keep BC's Gyms Open change.org petition, created by Dylan Ferguson, now stands at over 36,000 signatures.