Ursus Fitness gym owners ask government to investigate origin of cluster, infectious diseases expert confirms investigation ongoing
- The owners of Ursus Fitness point to cases in a nearby building, Kui Yan Court, and a launderette they use for their towels
- University of Hong Kong professor Yuen Kwok-yung confirms that investigation into the source of the cluster is ongoing
The owners of Ursus Fitness in Sai Ying Pun, whose gym has been linked to a cluster of coronavirus cases and has become the target of online and personal attacks, are asking the government to further investigate the origin of the outbreak.
Gary Manwaring, the co-owner of Ursus, pointed to a government notification of a reported case on March 1 involving a 48-year-old male who is a resident of Kui Yan Court in Sai Ying Pun. Kui Yan Court, is located approximately 100 metres from Ursus, which is on Pok Fu Lam Road.
According to a government press release on March 5, the Centre for Health Protection was investigating 11 confirmed cases. The third case reported was the male resident of the nearby building who developed a fever on March 1. His sample was collected that day and he tested positive.
This was followed by a second case in the building reported on March 5, a 46-year-old female, and then a 10-year-old female who was asymptomatic and linked to Kui Yan Court, as per government documents.
Manwaring and Santina Philips, who first opened Ursus Fitness in 2015, are currently at Lantau Hospital after they both tested positive for Covid-19.
“As early as March 1 the government website shows confirmed cases arising in Kui Yan Court,” Manwaring said. “Businesses and other local residents were not alerted.”
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Manwaring said they get their laundry done at Fine Light Laundry, which is located on Wing Sing Court and is part of the commercial portion at the bottom of Kui Yan Court.
“Ursus have their face and shower towels laundered and delivered from there every one to two days,” Manwaring said. “This is a hundred-plus towels each time.”
The government allowed gyms and fitness centres to reopen on February 18 with a number of guidelines, which included wearing masks for group sessions or personal training sessions, and also regular testing for members of the fitness industry. The government rules did not require those working out by themselves to wear a mask.
Manwaring said he didn’t want to accuse the government of missing anything, or bring negative attention to any residents or nearby businesses, but he said the government data clearly points to Kui Yan Court and not their gym, which has found itself the target of media reports and public scorn related to a potential fifth wave of cases in Hong Kong, as a potential source of the outbreak.
Health authorities made public statements tying cases to the gym as far back as March 9, which Manwaring said started a negative campaign against them and Ursus Fitness.
The government has locked down dozens of buildings in the area and around Central, and 109 cases have been linked to the area so far, with 750 close contacts sent into quarantine.
University of Hong Kong professor Yuen Kwok-yung responded to the suggestion that the cluster actually started at the building and the adjoined launderette. Yuen is one of Hong Kong’s top infectious diseases experts.
“We need further investigation to determine if the virus-contaminated linen from Ursus Fitness started the outbreak at the laundromat/Kui Yan Court or vice versa,” he told the Post via email.
Santina Philips said the negative comments have had a serious impact on them.
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“I’ve had personal messages from people saying they want to see me in handcuffs and prosecuted,” Philips said.
University of Hong Kong microbiologist Dr Ho Pak-leung, in linking the outbreak to Ursus Fitness, called the event a “super-spreader”, and that “it could be repeating the case in the dancing cluster again,” referring to hundreds of cases linked to dance venues that drove infections in the city late last year.
Ursus trainers undergo regular testing as required by the government as part of the reopening plan for gyms, Manwaring said. He added that a trainer was tested on Friday, March 5 at 8am, and got the negative result via WhatsApp at 3pm on Saturday, March 6. Another trainer was tested on Monday, March 8 at 3pm, and got the negative result back on Tuesday, March 9 at 1pm.
“The trainer who had been tested on Friday felt under the weather on Tuesday, did not go into work and did a rapid test at 11:30am,” Manwaring said. “The result was positive and the gym was closed within five minutes. We reacted before the government.”
