Several gyms in Yellowknife are tightening up access to their facilities, with the two COVID-19 cases in Yellowknife having been confirmed.
Break Away Fitness on 48th Street is not accepting new members until October 31 — by which time more than 14 days will have passed since the exposure risk was identified at the Anytime Fitness and the Yellowknife RCMP detachment.
The gym said the decision was made because of the two confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yellowknife and the exposure risk notice the Department of Health and Services issued.
The exposure notice will be in place for 14 days from the two exposure dates — October 12 at the Anytime Fitness and October 13 at the Yellowknife RCMP detachment — because the GNWT “cannot guarantee whether we have been able to reach all contacts,” the Department of Health and Social Services said in a statement.
The Racquet Club on 49th Avenue has reinstated its screening process at the door.
Karen Depew, co-acting manager at the Racquet Club said they had a staff member screening patrons as they entered the building for COVID-19 symptoms before, and had stopped for a few weeks, until the news came emerged about the COVID-19 exposure risk.
“Thankfully our club is staffed the whole time we’re open,” said Depew. “You can’t get through the doorway without being screened by a person, rather than just a list of questions.”
Johanna Tiemessen, president of the co-operative that runs the Collective Soul Space yoga studio on Franklin Avenue, said participants at their facility “don’t really have contact” with each other, so haven’t instituted any new safety measures.
The studio currently leaves equipment — like yoga mats — to rest for four days before being used again.
The two presumptive COVID-19 cases in Yellowknife were confirmed Wednesday after results were returned from the GNWT’s partner laboratory in Alberta.
That comes after the presumptive case in Inuvik was confirmed on Tuesday.
The presumptive COVID-19 case at Gahcho Kué mine has now been re-tested at the Stanton Hospital laboratory and found to be false.
