Fitness centres warned to protect COVID data
(CNS): Gyms, sports clubs and fitness centres have been warned by the ombudsman that they must follow data protection legislation when they check that their clients have either been fully vaccinated or have a negative PCR test to enter their facilities as part of the new COVID-19 rules. The new regulations do not require these establishments to keep records of the checks they now must make or to retain copies of any medical records they are given. However, the ombudsman said operators must decide how they will comply with the new rules while abiding by the Data Protection Act.
The latest COVID control measures now require the owners of fitness centres to check that anyone other than staff coming into the facilities has a vaccination certificate or a PCR test result. But this type of information is considered sensitive medical data and must therefore be handled in compliance with the law, especially if it is being entered electronically or kept on customers’ files.
Ombudsman Sandy Hermiston said this information is “subject to stringent processing requirements”. Any processing of personal data must be done fairly and transparently, must have a legal basis and must not be considered excessive collection of data, she explained.
The ombudsman is advising such establishments to create written policies outlining how they will check vaccination/PCR test status and provide a privacy notice to the customer explaining who is collecting this data and why.
See guidance notes here or in the CNS Library.
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Category: Business, Politics, Private Sector Oversight, Sports and Fitness
good start cig…now bring in more restrictions for the anti-vax fools…
I wonder why they are picking on gyms and not KFC?
LOL. Technically not funny but funny.
“why do i need a mask? there’s just a little bit of local cases”
Why do you need to cover up all of those gas soaked rags? There’s just a little bit of sparks around..
So gyms, but not indoor, crowded nightclubs, where people are drunk, shoulder to shoulder, talking/shouting in close range at high volume so they can be heard over music playing in the background?
Makes perfect sense.
And that’s just to get in – anywhere. Literally everyone takes their mask off as they sit down or get inside.
Seems like no one including me sees the sense anymore if half of the population doesn’t even want to care, and I’ve been pro vax, pro mask since the start of it all.
Yet another tyrannical measure backed by the clueless Pact govt. The Pact would be much better off giving everyone in their govt free Gym membership than chasing gym owners to check back cards and PCs tests. Utter nonsense.
Forget about closing schools if one pupil has a positive case, forget about giving us the number of positive cases.
It’s completely redundant.
All we need to know on a daily/weekly basis is the number of people who are currently extremely ill with/from Covid. Along with that the number who have underlying conditions, who will practically be everyone.
Healthy people very rarely get ill from Covid.
The thing is this, people’s lifestyles will always catch up with them eventually. Sadly it has taken this pandemic to bring these underlying conditions to the forefront of discussion.
Obesity is by far the biggest ‘underlying’ condition on our Islands, and no doubt the one that Covid will do most damage to. Maybe that’s the driving force behind the govt keeping us locked up.
Leave the gyms alone!!!
COVID has a high comorbidity rate and obesity seems to be the biggest factor, as I think obesity is indicative of an unhealthy lifestyle yet there was never a push to be healthier. There was never any promotion for exercise and living a healthy lifestyle, there was only the vaccine.
Ask yourself why a set of people in power, who all look like they are on the verge of type 2 diabetes have chosen coercion and are targeting fitness centers. All the places and businesses that don’t have to do this, but gyms do? The US did this and other wacky nations down under. “You’re limited to being indoors where you get limited natural sunlight and Vit D and you can only exercise for 1 hour a day” While they couldn’t realistically enforce the 1 hour rule, why even put it in there to begin with? Why does it feel like an attempt to keep people sick.
“No-one is forcing you to get the vaccine”… is and always was rubbish. For those that think this, you can hide behind “Muh private company they can do what they feel like” all you want but the long and short of it is that, I can choose to not get this vaccine but other people are actively trying to create a situation where I have to get the vaccine. This is coercion and you cannot paint it any other way.
Just look at the fact that ALL roads the government wants you to take leads to the vaccine. You can continue to degregate your health, just take the vaccine. You’re not allowed to work on your fitness inside a set of walls unless you took the vaccine.
government is too big. They touch too many things unnecessarily and its hindering the islands because people with no form of competence can get elected into position where they have complicated (albeit unnecessarily) situations to solve. Government needs less over reach and needs to be trimmed. Trim the fat.
There are no proven links between lack of exercise and obesity. We are following the science here in Cayman. Don’t like it, off you go to Bermuda!
Fast food places do a roaring trade here. KFC in particular opposite The Wharf always has lengthy queues at 5pm. Don’t people cook anymore? We have some very tubby locals and our Premier doesn’t set a good example.
People are willingly giving away their rights. The Government keeps dangling the carrot, while people comply in hope of receiving the carrot but really never do. Can’t see the forest for the trees. By the time people realize where we’re heading, it will be too late. Not to worry though, by that time we’ll be back to Caymanian vs Expat but with vengeance.
If the people get too healthy and eat what they suppose to eat, they may get too smart and may begin to think for themselves.
Cayman has an obesity crisis which needs to be addressed.
Going to the gym is small part of a healthy lifestyle. The diet is most important. A plant base life style is healthier.
I couldn’t like this comment more.
A recent study by the British Medical Journal studied 3000 frontline workers exposed to COVID-19, asking what diet they ascribed to (omnivore, keto, plant based/vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian etc).
The study found that front line workers who followed a plant based diet were something like 73% less likely to contract Covid or contract and have less severe symptoms, and pescatarians were 53% less likely to contract or have serious symptoms.
On the flip side, those that followed a keto diet or high protein low carb were 70% more likely to contract Covid or have serious symptoms.
Here is the study: https://nutrition.bmj.com/content/4/1/257
Shouldn’t you two be at Crossfit?
Why, is that where the smart people who take care of their health hang out? I should start going…
waffle..just get the vaccine.
anti-vaxxers should face many more restrictions…(like most other countries)
You can not take the vaccine and die, at which point the coercion won’t really bother you.
99% survival rate without the vaccine. Just saying.
There should be ZERO reason for businesses to keep this data. Customers should show at entrance to be allowed in but no copies/records need be kept.
Contact tracing needs to go out the window now that we’re supposedly past the “zero cases” mentality and onto “manage cases” mentality.
Except that I, as a customer, would rather not have to carry along a copy every time I go to the gym 4-5 days a week. I have no issues with signing a waiver if gyms need this to avoid inconveniencing me.
This government really seem to have it in for the gyms!
One only has to look at this Government to understand why.
Why the fitness centers? People trying to stay healthy to fight illness, and not just Covid, being denied access!! Even the vaccinated can spread Covid, whether we like it or not. Why don’t they also start vetting how long ago they had the vaccines which are wearing off. Let’s get REALLY picky about this all!
Vaccinated people are less likely to catch and spread covid. There is less risk. I prefer to go to a gym in which everyone is vaccinated.
Not true. Check the CDC website.
Check again. Less likely to get it means you are less likely to spread it.
Less likely to get it, yet a country with over 80% vaccination rate has recorded their highest number of new cases ever. Check in on singapore and tell me how that fits into your thought process. Ooh yeah, check in on isreal and tell me the vaccine prevents you from catching with a straight face.
You can say what you want but when we actually look at whats happening, your little fantasy world crumbles.
CNS: I’m not entirely clear on what point you’re making but these links might be helpful. The Atlantic – No, Vaccinated People Are Not ‘Just as Likely’ to Spread the Coronavirus as Unvaccinated People
See more on Singapore here on AP – Singapore strategy of living with COVID raises concern, hope
With about 82% of the population over age 12 fully vaccinated, according to the Health Ministry, hospitals have not become overwhelmed, with 98% of new cases either asymptomatic or with mild symptoms… And the overall figures, while high for Singapore, are still extremely low.
And news from Israel (Haaretz) – These Unvaccinated 10% Fuel Israel’s COVID Crisis
Thank you once again CNS!
PACT, You are crushing small businesses with these ludicrous regulations. We are not NYC. We do not have the population to sustain our businesses with this foolishness. We are an island who depend on people who live here since we are cut off from the rest of the world at present to survive. These gyms and fitness centers recycle customers and you have just added administrative work to their load plus membership cancellations will go up and prospective customers will do their own thing instead of being apart of a gym community. All business owners need to take this seriously. It can happen to any of us and that’s why we need not sit down quietly. Imagine this is mandated for your restaurant or salon. How would you survive?!
Peaceful non compliance is the only way this changes.
People need to understand they can no longer sleep but No-one cares until it hits them and it will be too late then. They will not heed the alarm from those before them because they are too busy with their own lives and making ends meet. Well, there will come a time when there is no tomorrow for which something can be put off and when that time comes the climb is steeper than if we start now.
The government seems to forget they run off of our money. They seem to forget that they don’t actually produce anything. Our government is completely reliant on other people to pay their salaries.
I refuse to comply with these foolish, inconsistent, arbitrary mandates that actually don’t follow “the science”. Any business that will accept my patronage is much appreciated. I will keep this up until I can’t anymore.
Just a suggestion to all people out there, the less you need the government the more they beg for your money. Our government has no plan for self reliance because the entire government system is built upon someone else’s hard work. They take what is ours and sell it back to us as if they are doing us a favour. Plan for self reliance, do business and trade with each other outside of the usual methods that doesn’t allow for government intervention.
That’s how it’s done right? They are taking away people’s income whether intentionally or not, so what we need to do is create our own trading economy for goods and services via working towards self sufficiency.
As an example, If everyone creates their own back yard garden and grows 10 -15% of whatever veggies they usually buy, that’s 10 to 15% the grocery stores don’t sell, which is 10 to 15% they don’t order the next time, which is 10 to 15% the government doesn’t collect on duties (if they even charge the mafia duties). Lets aim to repair the things we have instead of looking to buy and import new ones. Maintenance over replacement is key.
Create our own thing that the government can’t take and watch them beg us to come back.
Everyone is so blinded by the whole vaxxed vs unvaxxed narrative that they do not realize how this will hurt the economy more than the virus did.
They want you to exercise outdoor, which is healthier, and the air is fresher too.
Master of Puppets is pulling your strings -James Hetfield
How come Fosters. Kirks and the Civil Service don’t have to do this?
Plenty people in all those places walking around sweatier than those in the gym for true.
I guess they will breathing more heavily in the gym.
I’m a fitness professional and I thought I was opening a business/gym in Cayman. It seems like we’re now running a hospital. Honestly I don’t think we can keep this up.
As I see it a gym has revealed to every member who is admitted that all those inside have been vaccinated, and every regular attendee who no longer shows up, isn’t. How does that sit with the Data Protection Law?
The whole Data Protection regime is bureaucratic overreach. It is a nonsense ill suited to our community. The Confidentiality regime that preceded it was so much better, made sense, and worked!
Why not just get the QR code system up and running asap and as you enter just show your code of your phone…simple
They are doing this now in both Ontario and Quebec and it works seamlessly.
We need to tattoo QR codes on the foreheads of the unvaccinated.
And have been doing in in France and Italy for months. It works perfectly.
https://thecommonsproject.org/smart-health-card-verifier
This app works and the HSA is listed as a verified institution.
So for 75% of us who have the QR code now, this would suffice if the business uses the app.
That is what the HSA app is.
Download at your own risk.
https://medcitynews.com/2021/03/lawsuit-cerner-systems-failure-drove-astria-health-into-bankruptcy/
What’s next? “666”?
This is theoretical mumbo jumbo. Checking vaccine status is the right thing to do and soon it will be required for all non-essential indoor activities.
The government must get out in front of this and exempt the collection of vaccine data.
Totally mumbo-jumbo.
Why shouldn’t there be a log of everywhere I go, whether I’m vaccinated or not, who I was with and so on and so on?
It’s not like anyone would ever use this data for something other than its original intended purpose.
Also, why should you care about that anyway unless you have something to hide? What are you afraid of?
…
This is how it happens folks. You’re watching it in real time. People with “good intentions” wiping the hard-earned rights western societies are based on. Gone in a blink of an eye.
Wow, someone who actually gets it.
You have a cellphone so your whereabouts can already be tracked so don’t fret:)
Not everyone uses a smartphone.
1984 is here creepy clown.
Now exercise is non essential? Not exercising can cause one to die easier from Covid! What we should ban is fast foods.
Fast food does not mean bad food. I grab a FF salad for lunch as I do not have 2 hours to sit through restaurant service every day!
Why is vaccine status relevant? Vaxxed and unvaxxed both catch and spread COVID.
Better to do the temperature check before admittance.
Enough of this Orwellian nonsense.
Vaccinated people are less likely to catch and spread covid. There is less risk.
She’s worried about fitness centres and hasn’t said anything about what employer’s have been doing for weeks? Talk about picking the low hanging fruit!
The employer’s what? To which specific single employer are you referring?
ALT, Fosters, Kirks, Hurleys to name a few. Has your head been in the sand?
I am not an anti Vader by any means yet still believe it’s a personal choice, shouldn’t be mandated nor should personal records be public.
Is that the same as pro Jedi?
Nicely done, my friend! Nicely done! Your humour was not lost on us all! 🙂
May the Farce be with you
Oops, sorry. Anti vaxxer, but the mistake definitely worth the response!
#anotherpactfail
With so much paperwork / red tape (inclusive of bank requirements, who has time to actually run a business?
Went to the bank the other day with my 17 year old daughter. We let her passport expire (somewhat accidentally but didn’t seem important in these times). Couldn’t open an account, which, incidentally, she needs for her part time job. Birth certificate was not enough proof she was born, along with picture ID. Ridiculous.
Their logic ….. Once your passport expires you no longer are that person. It’s insanity at its finest.