Why Working Out at Your Gym Indoors Is a Terrible Idea Right Now

• COVID-19 safety precautions and their enforcement can vary widely at different gyms in different areas.
• Health experts advise against working out at indoor public gyms at this time.
• Instead, experts suggest exercising outdoors or virtually to reduce your transmission risk.

Avid gym-goers may be wondering: Even when safety guidelines are followed to the letter, is it really safe to attend indoor fitness centers and exercise classes during the pandemic?

Multiple outbreaks of COVID-19 have been linked to fitness facilities since the pandemic started, including dozens of cases linked to a fitness center in Chicago, Illinois.

In the latest issue of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), officials from the Chicago Department of Public Health shared findings from their investigation into the outbreak.

“I think this report really highlights what many of us already assumed in the first place: exercising in an indoor facility during a pandemic like COVID, especially with high-intensity activities, is a major risk,” said Dr. Keri L. Denay, the medical director of Briarwood Family and Sports Medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor. Denay wasn’t involved in preparing the report.

The Chicago fitness facility temporarily shut down on Sep. 1 after learning that one of its patrons had tested positive for the virus that causes COVID-19.

Investigators later found that 55 out of 81 people who attended high-intensity exercise classes at the facility from August 24 to September 1 developed confirmed or probable COVID-19.