A health club in Quebec Metropolis has now been linked to 419 circumstances of COVID-19 after workers and shoppers acquired contaminated and unknowingly carried the virus to grocery shops, houses, and workplaces, the regional well being authority mentioned Wednesday.
A spokesman for the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale mentioned that as of Wednesday morning, 195 shoppers and workers of the Mega Health Health club, which authorities shut down final week, have examined optimistic for the virus.
These main circumstances are believed to have unfold the virus to some 36 workplaces, together with eating places, grocery shops, places of work, retail shops and development websites, in the end infecting one other 224 folks, the authority mentioned in an e-mail.
Whereas the regional well being authority has not confirmed any deaths linked to the outbreak, on Wednesday the sister of a 40-year-old man who was a consumer of the health club informed The Canadian Press by way of Fb that her brother had died after catching the virus. It’s not clear whether or not his sickness was linked to the enterprise.
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One other of the health club’s shoppers mentioned he caught COVID-19 after working on the market, regardless that he wore his masks the entire time and saved his distance from others.
However Dominic Lelièvre mentioned it was clear some shoppers weren’t respecting well being measures. At one level, he mentioned, he turned to his partner and commented on the lax mask-wearing within the health club.
“They’re not sporting them properly,” he mentioned his partner informed him.
“They’re not sporting them in any respect,” Lelièvre replied.
Whereas there have been indicators outlining the principles in addition to Plexiglas limitations and hand sanitizer, Lelièvre mentioned in a telephone interview that there have been hardly any workers on the ground to implement the principles.
The 43-year-old started feeling drained in late March, which he attributed to beginning to work out once more after a number of months of gyms being closed. When he noticed the health club put up a couple of COVID-19 case, he went to get examined and acquired a optimistic consequence. His partner turned contaminated too, he mentioned, as did certainly one of his two younger kids.
Whereas he feels fortunate to not have been significantly in poor health, his signs included fever, chills, a lack of style and a lung an infection. “You climb the steps and also you’re out of breath,” he mentioned.
As case numbers linked to the outbreak have climbed, so has anger towards the health club’s proprietor, Dan Marino. Marino defended himself on Fb final week, saying he’d adopted all the federal government well being measures.
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However that hasn’t stopped accusations from folks resembling Quebec Metropolis Mayor Régis Labeaume, who has described him as “irresponsible” and famous that Marino had been an outspoken critic of the federal government’s shutdowns of gyms.
Gabriel Hardy, Quebec spokesman for the Health Trade Council of Canada, mentioned Wednesday he believes the federal government’s determination to shut gyms in Quebec’s purple zones as of Thursday is related to the Mega Health Health club outbreak, regardless that most gyms are working safely.
“There’s one case in Quebec that introduced us all down,” he mentioned.
The regional well being authority mentioned that whereas the health club outbreak is “vital,” it isn’t solely accountable for the spike in circumstances in Quebec Metropolis, which has prompted the provincial authorities to impose particular lockdown measures on the area, together with closing colleges and non-essential companies and a return to an 8 p.m. curfew.
“We’re confronted with a scenario the place dozens of community-type outbreaks, linked to a slackening of the compliance with well being directions, every feed the speedy development of latest optimistic circumstances,” the well being authority wrote in an e-mail.
Lelièvre mentioned he understands the anger towards Marino and a few shoppers who allegedly refused to get examined, regardless of creating signs or being uncovered.
However he mentioned he blames the scenario on a mixture of things, together with normal societal complacency with security measures, an insufficiently strict proprietor and variants of COVID-19 that unfold simply.
“(The proprietor) is one responsible get together however he’s not the one one,” he mentioned. “The virus is all over the place.”
— With information from The Canadian Press’ Caroline Plante and Jacob Serebrin
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