VANCOUVER -- On Saturday, they were ordered to close their doors for the second time this year. Now, the owners of Metro Vancouver yoga, dance, martial arts and spin studios are wondering how and when they can re-open again.
While the province has announced strict new health guidelines for the next two weeks, indoor fitness facilities can’t reopen until a medical health officer has signed off on their plan.
“So I’ve been on the phones all morning trying to get clarity on that, what type of plan is requested, and what does the approval process look like. I have more questions than answers,” said the founder of Spin Society Cycling Studio, Dominik Desbois.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says guidance on how to prepare a new COVID-19 safety plan will be coming soon. “I know many business have already reached out and are keen to get underway, but you need to hold back on those specific activities until we have the right safety measures to provide you with that advice,” she said.
“They said they don’t have anything ready to go yet, they said there are no plans in place and to hang tight,” said the owner of North Shore Academy of Dancing, Dylan Steyns. “I don’t think this is any situation where we hang tight, we want to be proactive and we want to deal with this as quick as possible.”
Fitness studio owners are concerned that if every indoor fitness studio needs to have their specific plan approved by a medical health officer, many of those businesses will remain closed long beyond the two week duration of the latest public health guidelines.
“I can only imagine each one of us individually submitting a plan for review is gonna take months,” said Desbois. “I don’t even know where to start with that.”
Lauren Overholt with Seymour Dance believes there’s a better way.
“I think moving forward, dance studios would happily work together to provide a combined plan or be given a plan and just run with that," she said.
“We just want to move forward in a safe and positive way.”
The fitness studios say they are willing to do whatever it takes to open again, but they’re not sure what other precautions they can take.
“We have masks on, social distancing, ventilation, sanitizing everywhere. We have done more than what has been asked of us,” said Steyns.
