On Friday, Ontario enters Step 3 of its reopening plan, which means that indoor spaces like gyms, movie theatres and indoor dining areas can start welcoming guests again. These environments, however, still come with health risks.
Unlike outdoor spaces, indoor spaces aren’t as spacious or well-ventilated. There are measures all indoor environments should enforce, including proper ventilation, requiring masks whenever possible, limiting the number of people and not allowing people who are feeling sick or have tested positive for COVID-19 inside.
The Star spoke with epidemiologist Maria Sundaram to better understand the risks that come with certain indoor spaces and how to use them as safely as possible.
Before deciding to enter any indoor space, Sundaram encourages people to think of people, place, time and space: The number of people that are in the area, the type of place that it is (its size and how well its ventilated for example), the amount of time that you’re spending there and what other protections are being enforced in a space.
Here are some of the indoor venues reopening, the risks associated with them and advice on how to stay safe in them.
Gyms
Indoor sports and recreation facilities can operate at 50 per cent capacity. In previous phases, classes and sports training were only permitted outdoors.
Risks:
Sundaram sees gyms as one of the unique indoor environments where there is a higher risk of interacting with different people’s respiratory droplets, as she expects gym users to breathe more heavily than usual.
“That is what makes me nervous specifically about going to a gym, where there’s a lot of people, where there’s poor ventilation and where there’s not very much space to spread out,” Sundaram said.
How to stay safe at the gym:
Choose a gym that clearly outlines the safety measures its taking; some gyms may require people to wear masks during their workout or not allow walk-ins.
“Patronize businesses that are allowing those choices to be really easy,” Sundaram said.
Personal care services
Services, including those that require guests to remove their masks, can operate with a capacity that allows people to stay two metres apart.
Risks:
To Sundaram, personal care services like spas and haircuts are generally low-risk, especially since people can stay masked for most services.
For services like facials and beard trims where people need to be unmasked, Sundaram said to “focus on other pandemic control tools in the tool kit,” which include having as little people as possible in the same room and improving ventilation.
How to stay safe while getting personal care services:
Like with gyms, Sundaram recommends familiarizing yourself with a service’s safety measures to determine if it’s the right place to go to.
“I think the best options are to consider environments where there are not a lot of people and to wear a mask whenever possible indoors,” Sundaram said.
Weddings
Weddings, both indoor and outdoor, are permitted with a capacity that allows people to stay two metres apart.
Risks:
Like personal care services, Sundaram thinks that weddings can safely happen indoors as long as attendees wear their masks and don’t get too close to each other.
How to stay safe at a wedding:
Consider hosting parts of the wedding outdoors depending on whether guests will need to remove their masks.
“If you’re planning a wedding and you want to eat cake, you can maybe plan the eating portion outdoors so that when people are unmasked, they’re not unmasked indoors,” Sundaram said.
Indoor dining
Indoor and outdoor dining is permitted with a capacity that allows people to stay two metres apart.
Risks:
Indoor dining is a little bit more challenging, Sundaram said, because it’s an environment where people will be unmasked indoors. The quality of ventilation, the number of people and the amount of time that they’re spending inside a restaurant “can be highly variable.”
How to stay safe while dining indoors:
If you’re thinking of planning to do some indoor dining, Sundaram suggests that you research the best places and times to eat out to prevent ending up in a crowded restaurant.
“Try to identify some of these things and ask yourself which restaurants could support a lower-risk environment,” Sundaram said.
Casinos, bingo halls and gaming establishments
Gaming establishments can operate at 50 per cent capacity.
Risks:
Generally, people can stay masked at gaming establishments. Though, sometimes, “things can get exciting” and people could potentially shout or sing, Sundaram said.
How to stay safe while gaming:
According to Sundaram, it’s especially important to “note the number of people and the amount of time that they’re spending” at gaming establishments, where people can easily lose track of time.
Public indoor pools
Indoor pools can operate and are limited to 50 per cent capacity.
Risks:
Public pools are another environment where people won’t be masked for the most part “and if there’s a lot of kids, there certainly will be shouting, laughing, which is wonderful,” Sundaram said. “But again, kind of a really easy way to spread respiratory viruses.”
How to stay safe while out for a swim:
Research your local public pool’s least busy times to make sure there’s as few people as possible and be aware of its capacity limit.
Hotels/Airbnbs
Hotels and Airbnbs are open, including indoor and outdoor recreational facilities that come with them.
Risks:
Airbnbs are generally low-risk, according to Sundaram, as long as it’s either one person or maybe a couple or a family is staying there at one time. There also needs to be enough time between each stay to make sure the space gets aired out fully and little or no contact with the host.
“It’s certainly a safer environment than a gym where people might be on a treadmill next to another person on a treadmill, both of them breathing quite heavily,” Sundaram said.
How to stay safe at a hotel or Airbnb:
Make sure that you’re checking in and out in a well-ventilated area, or try to co-ordinate with hosts online as much as possible.
Hosting people inside your home
Indoor gatherings are permitted for up to 25 people.
Risks:
Risk factors for indoor home gatherings can vary depending on how well hosts and their guests follow COVID-19 guidelines.
“It’s a little bit unique from the rest because in theory you have a little bit more control over the environment,” Sundaram said.
How to stay safe while hosting:
Communicate with your guests clearly about precautions you’ll be taking to make sure everyone is being as safe as possible.
“So you can say, ‘Hey, I’m going to open a window, I’m going to turn on the fan,’ ” Sundaram said. “You can also say, ‘Hey, let me get you a chair — six feet away from my chair,’ or ‘Hey, I would love to have you over to my house when both of us are fully vaccinated so that it’s a low-risk interaction.’ ”
Movie theatres/musicals/plays
Indoor venues can operate with a maximum capacity of either 50 per cent or 1,000 people, depending on which number is smaller.
Risks:
Theatres are relatively low-risk environments, though “movie theatres, generally, are a little bit of a quieter environment than musicals,” Sundaram said. Musicals and plays might have slightly higher risk factors since people will be singing and talking. Audience members might also cheer, laugh, or shout “bravo” at the end.
How to stay safe at a show:
Make sure to wear your mask and, ideally, pick a venue that puts empty seats between people unless you’re from the same household.
Concerts with standing area
Indoor venues can operate with a maximum capacity of either 50 per cent or 1,000 people, depending on which number is smaller.
Risks:
Small, poorly-ventilated concert venues may be higher-risk environments, “especially for people who are not yet vaccinated or not yet fully vaccinated,” Sundaram said, considering that there will be singing, shouting and cheering coming from both musicians and audience members.
How to stay safe in a mosh pit:
Actively normalize wearing a mask in concerts — and any other public space — so more people will feel comfortable following masking guidelines.
“If you get there and no one else is wearing a mask, if you really want to wear a mask, you’ll feel weird, being the only person with a mask on,” Sundaram said. “Encouraging others to take those precautions, I think can be extraordinarily powerful.”
Article From: The Star
Author: Celina Gallardo
