Oakville gym operating under exemption linked to COVID-19 outbreak

A gym in Oakville has been ordered to shut down after being linked to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Halton Public Health says Muscle HQ gym, which had been operating under a physical therapy exemption, is linked to at least 15 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant.

Co-owner Ali Siddiqui said in a Facebook video that the gym received a shutdown notice on Saturday.

Gyms across Ontario are currently not allowed to offer indoor services but Muscle HQ had been operating by allowing members with doctors’ notes that cite the need for physical therapy to train.

Siddiqui says the gym was completely transparent with members and public health officials and had been operating for six months without incident prior to this outbreak.

He says more than 400 people could have been exposed to the virus.

Health Minister Christine Elliott says since the gym remained open during the pandemic, the Delta variant is now “circulating very widely through the population of people that use that.”