The City of West Kelowna has confirmed it is withholding the 2022 business license renewal for a local gym that’s openly defying BC’s COVID-19 restrictions.
Iron Energy Gym announced this week that it was reopening in spite of province-wide orders – issued amid unprecedented COVID-19 transmission – that require in-person fitness facilities to remain closed until Jan. 18, at the earliest.
West Kelowna told CTV News it has not issued the gym’s business license renewal on the grounds that it is “operating in contravention of a public health order.”
“The city will review this decision after further consultation with Interior Health,” the City of West Kelowna said in an email statement.
CTV News has asked Interior Health whether additional enforcement actions are being planned against the business, but has not heard back.
Iron Energy Gym has not responded to requests for comment this week either, but co-owner Brian Mark told Castanet News their 1,350 customers rely on the facility for their mental health.
“We understand COVID is real and people have gotten sick,” Mark said Wednesday. “That is why, as owners, we got vaccinated, asked people to wear masks, do social distancing. We did everything that they asked of us. When the new restrictions came out and they told us that we were going to have to close our gym, we decided that it wasn’t right.”
In a social media post on Tuesday, Iron Energy Gym encouraged members to come back and told them to bring their phones so they can record any government employees who might try to enforce the province’s public health orders.
“If anyone shows up at OUR GYM and tries to shut us down, we want it BLASTED all over the internet,” the post reads.
Many gym owners have spoken out against the closure orders issued last month by provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry, arguing that their industry is being unfairly targeted and demanding proof of COVID-19 transmission in fitness centres.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Henry said intense indoor exercise, even when people are wearing masks, creates a heightened risk of transmission, particularly with the highly infectious Omicron variant now accounting for 80 percent of cases in BC
“When we have a lot of transmission in our community, we have repeatedly seen the gyms become amplifiers,” Henry said. “I can’t tell you every single case that’s been linked to a gym, but we can tell you that we’ve seen this as a pattern.”
The closure orders weren’t issued because gyms weren’t following recommendations or guidelines, but to protect customers and employees, she added.
“The reputable ones understand that, they’re not going to put their staff and clients at risk when we’re seeing the amount of transmission that we’re seeing right now,” Henry said.
