The rising risk of COVID-19 infection amid the Omicron surge is prompting public health authorities and experts to advise more caution in indoor gyms, saying wearing a mask indoors is critical.
Several counties in the San Francisco Bay Area have recently made it mandatory to wear a mask in indoor gyms, even if everyone inside is fully vaccinated. These counties – San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Sonoma and Marin – ended a limited exception to their local indoor face covering rules that allowed gym members to opt out if the establishment verified that all patrons they were vaccinated.
Los Angeles County, with a lower vaccination rate than many Bay Area counties, has long had a stricter indoor mask rule and has required face coverings in gyms since the summer , when the Delta surge was gathering momentum. But not everyone adheres to the face covering mandate, and compliance has been spotty.
Some infectious disease experts say that in light of rising rates of coronavirus cases, it’s safer to exercise indoors if everyone is vaccinated and wears a mask. But gyms across the state may have their own inoculation policies. And only a handful of California cities — including Los Angeles, West Hollywood, San Francisco and Berkeley — require people who work out at an indoor gym to be vaccinated.
Even with vaccination and mask requirements, gyms present varying degrees of risk. The area of least risk is probably the weight room, since users can spread out and stay away from other people. The highest-risk area would be indoor classrooms, where everyone is in close proximity to each other and exhaling lots of respiratory particles, according to Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at UC San Francisco. A moderate risk zone — between the weight room and indoor fitness classes — would be around the treadmills.
Chin-Hong said he feels more comfortable with indoor gym classes where everyone is vaccinated and wears a mask.
Although everyone wears a mask most of the time, there is no vaccine verification requirement, so the increase in Omicron cases makes Chin-Hong consider indoor gym classes, as the variant can lead to to a large number of asymptomatic but potentially contagious people.
“I feel a little bit more insecure regarding Omicron because there are a lot more virus particles and it can stay there probably a little bit longer,” Chin-Hong said.
A class of spinning indoors in the current surge is especially risky, especially if the people there aren’t vaccinated. “Everyone is very close … and it’s a situation that comes with the class, where you can’t really distance yourself socially,” Chin-Hong said. People might be wearing less effective masks, such as cloth ones, or loose-fitting masks that don’t fit well, allowing particles from their lungs to spill into the air quickly.
Early data suggests that the coronavirus can remain indoors for an hour or two, even following a contagious person has left the area.
Chin-Hong said he would rather wait for the current surge to pass before going back to indoor fitness classes.
Many transmissions of the coronavirus have been documented in gyms while people were doing aerobic activities, Chin-Hong said. It is an “easy and effective way to mobilize the virus.”
Another way to reduce risk in gyms would be to go during less crowded hours.
Dr. Robert Kim-Farley, a medical epidemiologist and infectious disease expert at UCLA, agreed that vaccinated, boosted people who wear masks may feel more comfortable going to indoor gyms that require a proof of vaccination and people comply with the rules for wearing face coverings.
Kim-Farley also recommended spacing people out in the gym and said good ventilation systems can reduce the risk of transmission.
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