Hamilton public health officials say nearly 50 coronavirus cases have now been linked to an outbreak at a spin studio in the city.
Officials say there are a total of 47 cases linked to the SPINCO on James Street as of Sunday morning.
Of the 47 cases, 38 are considered primary (36 members and 2 employees) and nine secondary.
Read more:
21 COVID-19 cases connected with Hamilton’s SPINCO, says public health
Primary cases refer to those who are believed to have contracted the virus directly at the facility, while secondary cases involve those who are believed to have contracted the virus from primary cases.
“The owners/operators have been cooperative [and] had public health measures in place,” said Jacqueline Durlov, a spokesperson for Hamilton Public Health Services.
Durlov said the facility set up screening, tracked those who attended each class, masked before and after classes, cleaned towels, cleaned rooms within 30 minutes of each class and supported public health messaging.
“Nonetheless, gyms such as SPINCO are considered higher-risk sites for COVID-19 transmission,” Durlov said.
“The province has made further restrictions for gyms in areas with high rates of COVID (Toronto, Ottawa, Peel) for that reason. We continue to work with SPINCO to determine the cause. Given gyms are higher-risk sites for transmission because of the aerobic activity, enclosed spaces and other features, we may not know exactly how the virus was spread.”
In a statement issued on Saturday, the owners of the SPINCO franchise said they are “absolutely devastated” by the outbreak.
“Our community and city means everything to us and we express our sincere apology to all those that have been impacted,” the statement said.
“Public Health has confirmed and assured us that our screening process and our safety measures in place exceeded their expectations … Considering this outbreak happened while following Public Health’s guidelines, we will only reopen once all options are considered and will remain closed until such time.”
The statement said contact tracing has been completed for all riders.