Canadian SPINCO studio suffers large COVID-19 outbreak - News Today
  • 4 years ago
One client in a Canadian spin studio that was following all social distancing guidelines has triggered a COVID-19 outbreak with at least 61 cases now linked to the facility. The SPINCO studio in Hamilton, Ontario has now been linked to 44 confirmed coronavirus cases, including 42 patrons and two staffers. There are 17 secondary confirmed cases, which includes friends and family of patrons, that have been linked to the outbreak at the studio. Health officials fear as many as 100 people could have been directly exposed to the virus at the studio. Those who were exposed are believed to have attended classes between September 28 and October 4. Patient zero is believed to have been asymptomatic. Hamilton Public Health officials stopped short of calling the spin studio a super spreader event and instead defined it as a 'very large outbreak'. 'It's concerning in that it has extended beyond the initial cases who are related to the classes, but gone into their household contacts and other contacts, so it's a very large outbreak,' the city's chief medical officer, Dr Elizabeth Richardson, said.The studio, which had only reopened in late July, closed down as soon as the outbreak was confirmed. Health officials are still trying to piece together how the outbreak occurred given the spin studio was following all pandemic health guidelines. 'Gyms are a higher risk place because of the fact generally people are taking off their masks, breathing at a higher rate and more deeply, and especially in classes where there's coaching going on, that tends to be a louder tone to speak over music,' Richardson said. Health officials have declined to say whether patrons were following health guidelines. A review of that studio found they were operating at the approved 50 percent capacity with a six foot radius around each bike. The studio was also screening every patron and carrying out additional sanitation.SPINCO said patrons were only allowed to remove their face coverings once they were clipped into their bikes and had to put them back on before getting off again. . 'When we got the green light to reopen in July, like everyone we were hesitant, but we took all the measures public health offered, even added a few, and still the pandemic struck us again,' the owners said. 'It started September 28 and spread amongst specific classes until October 5th. SPINCO Hamilton has been closed from the moment the outbreak was identified. Share this article Share 'As of today, everyone who has tested positive, are well. Our team, along side Public Health has notified everyone. 'We have been following all the procedures set in place by public health. We have been in constant contact with our rid
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