If you haven’t been living under a rock, you are aware that the Vaccine Passports have been rolled out and mandated in BC and all except essential services have been advised to enforce it on penalty of fines and potential closure. This has become a very polarizing topic in virtually every city and province in Canada and has landed on everyone’s doorstep. GFTeam Canada respects your personal decision on the vaccination issue but has adopted the vaccine passport to continue to be able to stay open. Being a small business, our goals have been to be able to continue to operate the school but in a way that protects our students and stays in compliance to Public Health orders.
“This is a tough issue and this is a tough issue for an industry that has been decimated over this pandemic where we’re seeing over a third of fitness businesses have had to close their doors permanently,” she says.
“As an industry, we are not advocating for any more restrictions on our business. However, this is the new phase. If this is the next phase for us to be able to continue to keep our doors open in fitness — serving British Columbians and making it accessible for their physical, mental and social health — then we have to do that. We are not in a position where we can lose any more revenue and any more members.”
Sara Hodson, President of the Fitness Industry Council of Canada
We are enforcing the Vaccine Passport so that we can continue to operate and so we can create a safer environment for those interested in resuming exercise as well as for those wanting to try something brand new.
Our enforcement of the vaccine passport allows our students to train in an environment that is safer than it was during last years spike in cases when there were no vaccines available. The reduced ability to spread covid among the vaccinated and the Passport policy reduces the chance of spread compared to before its enforcement. At GFTeam Canada, anyone that is training in the adult classes is vaccinated and all instructors continue to wear masks to further reduce possiblity of spread.
As of Friday, October 8th 2021 on BC the BC Covid-19 Pandemic Update, 89.1% (3,853,731) of all eligible adults in B.C. have received their first dose and 83% (3,587,996) received their second dose. This means the majority of the people we see are vaccinated and reducing spread despite the case numbers and the lack of lockdown. As noted at the link provided, the majority of current cases and hospitalizations are occurring among the unvaccinated.
Fall is here and Winter are coming…regular exercise helps manage stress and boost immunity
As we put away our summer tank tops and sandals and enter the latter half of the year, it is important to stay active and healthy to improve your health, immunity and spirits as the days get shorter and colder. We encourage our members to continue their training with the above precautions in place to ensure you have a safe space to continue exercising and maintaining your health and sanity.
In conclusion, none of these measures and steps GFTeam Canada has adopted have been easy. We have been fortunate to stay open because of the support of our students and their desire to continue normal activities as much as possible. We know that we can not please everyone but we choose to continue to do what we feel is appropriate in order to ensure our students have a place to relieve stress and increase healthy activities. We hope that the day will come soon where the precautions will no longer be needed and we can all return to a more normal situation with the entirety of our community. Stay safe and stay healthy!