‘There will be no tolerance’ Delta yoga studio license pulled after false COVID-19 claims
Posted March 20, 2020 2:01 pm.
Last Updated March 20, 2020 2:04 pm.
DELTA (NEWS 1130) — A yoga studio that posted false information saying hot yoga would kill COVID-19 has had its business licence pulled by Delta.
Mayor George Harvie said the city had no choice but to act.
“My message as mayor under the local state of emergency: there will no tolerance,” he said. “I was very disappointed that this operator totally refused to comply where many, many of our other businesses have done that. We’re in a critical situation over the next three weeks to flatten that curve.”
An email from Bikram Yoga suggested the virus could not spread in heat and that hot yoga would help boost immune systems and fight the virus.
Just off phone with Delta Mayor George Harvie. He tells me this yoga studio has had its business licence “permanently removed” : #COVID19 #CoronaVirusUpdate https://t.co/q1ilvAhCaS
— Martin MacMahon (@martinmacmahon) March 20, 2020
Harvie explained he would be doing everything he can to ensure the city follows the orders from the province and health officials during the outbreak.
RELATED: Bikram Yoga will not improve your immune system amid COVID-19 outbreak: Dr. Bonnie Henry
Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said Thursday that visiting a hot yoga studio is one of the worst ways to get exercise amid the global coronavirus pandemic.
“Yoga studios are a place where people are sweating and next to each other, at least the ones I go to, and that is a perfect environment to spread this virus if somebody is shedding this virus,” Henry says.
“It’s probably a misinterpretation of the fact that we are that respiratory viruses like influenza-like some of the other coronaviruses that we’ve seen, tend to fade away when it gets warmer and we have increased amounts of yellow violet light during the spring and summertime, so we don’t see influenza, it just disappears,” she says refuting claims that warmer temperatures may spell the end to the virus.
Delta is also telling any businesses which sell food or other essential supplies to allow seniors and vulnerable people to have dedicated shopping times.
With files from Nikitha Martins
