City officials are trying to figure out how a single Quebec City gym that refused to follow lockdown orders could be linked to the infection of at least 580 people, including a 40-year-old man who died after contracting COVID.
Health authorities told CBC that the Mega Fitness Gym violated at least three public health orders before it was forced to close on March 31, just as the city was shut down again amid rising infection rates. The outbreak prompted local health authorities to conduct an epidemiological investigation into how the virus could spread so quickly and whether the infections were caused by the deadly British variant.
The gym owner, Daniel Morino, had protested government-imposed business closures last summer by reopening his facility in the midst of a provincial lockdown last summer. According to CBC, the gym owner had shared social media posts that downplayed the severity of the virus and raised doubts about the need to wear face masks.
In June, police appeared at Morino’s gym after receiving a complaint that he had organized a “grand reopening” of his family business at 5:00 am. Morino told a local newspaper that the police officers left after touring the company without fining or ordering him to close the gym’s doors.
“I was not surprised by the police presence and I told them to do their job as I did mine,” Marino told Le Journal de Québec, adding that he had taken the necessary precautions to protect his clients.
“My biggest fear is going bankrupt… I have nothing to lose. If I get a $ 50,000 fine, I will add it to my debt. Either way, it makes no difference because I’m going out of business. I have invested 25 years of my life in this company and I don’t want to go out of business without doing something. I would regret it all my life. I’m not the savior of the people, I’m just trying to save my business. “
Although Marino insisted he had adhered to social distance measures after defying lockdown mandates, Quebec City’s director of public health said it was clear from the latest inspection that the gym had not taken proper safety precautions.
According to the director’s statement, which was reported by CTV, gym goers were not screened for symptoms, employees were not wearing proper personal protective equipment, and customers were not physically distanced from one another.
Morino finally closed the doors of the Mega Fitness Gym to the public on March 31. But at that point it was too late. With hundreds infected, one gym client dying and more casualties likely to occur – the outbreak has become one of Canada’s biggest superspreader events.
In response to Quebec City’s latest blockade amidst Canada’s lagging vaccination coverage and dizzying third wave of COVID, Mayor Régis Labeaume had some choice words aimed directly at Dan Marino.
“Bravo, champion,” he said. “Everyone has nice biceps, but now people are sick.”