Diana J. Smith

Officials race to track down Californians most affected by COVID-19

By Diana J. Smith 2 weeks ago

State and local health officials are racing to get a clearer picture of who is most impacted by COVID-19, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread and afflict some Californians disproportionately.

State officials will now be asking labs and testing sites to collect data on a patient’s sexual orientation and gender identity, and will demand better data collection on a patient’s ethnicity.

The announcement from officials Tuesday comes as Black, Latino and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander residents make up a disproportionate number of COVID-19 deaths compared to the overall population. Health experts and advocacy groups say members of the LGBTQ community are also disproportionately harmed by the virus.

Though the rate of new infections has slowed slightly compared to that in late June and early July, certain parts of California are experiencing alarming COVID-19 surges. The Central Valley, as well as parts of Southern California like Imperial County,

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Planet Fitness to require members to wear face masks while working out in gyms

By Diana J. Smith 3 weeks ago

One of the largest gym chains in the United States will soon require members to wear face masks.

The decision by Planet Fitness will go into effect Aug. 1 at its 1,450 locations that are open in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Planet Fitness chief executive Chris Rondeau said in a statement gyms are part of the solution in the global coronavirus crisis.

“Given our leadership position within the industry, we believe it’s our responsibility to further protect our members, employees, and communities so that we can all safely focus on our health, which is more important now than ever before,” Rondeau stated.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has urged Americans to wear face coverings in public settings to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Many major retailers, including Walmart, Target and Kohl’s now require customers to wear face masks, McClatchy News reported.

Planet Fitness says it

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Long queues as fitness centres reopen in England

By Diana J. Smith 3 weeks ago
Getty Images
Getty Images

Gyms have now reopened in England after being forced to close for four months due to the coronavirus outbreak.

It seems that people have been eager to get back into the gym, as social media users share photographs of queues forming outside.

One Twitter user posted a photo outside a Pure Gym, where several people were waiting to go in.

“Queue for gym like Beyonce is inside,” they teased in the caption.

Another Twitter user took a photo outside a gym and indoor pool facility in Hexham at 8am.

Ahead of reopening, a number of businesses, including PureGym, Nuffield Health, 1Rebel and David Lloyd shared the guidelines they are following in order to ensure clients and staff are safe.

Many have closed their changing rooms, meaning gymgoers will not be able to shower on-site and have to arrive in their exercise clothes.

The number of exercise machines is

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A fitness writer is facing backlash for saying she wouldn’t hire overweight people ‘because they are more lazy’

By Diana J. Smith 3 weeks ago
Samantha Yardley is a fitness writer based in Coventry, UK.
Samantha Yardley is a fitness writer based in Coventry, UK.

Samantha Yardley

  • A fitness writer is facing a backlash for saying she wouldn’t hire obese people.

  • Samantha Yardley first expressed her views in a 2019 article where she wrote that she wouldn’t work with overweight people because they are “lacking self-control” and might be “severely disturbed.”

  • This week, Yardley was interviewed on “This Morning” to discuss the issue further, and said she thinks life should be “more inconvenient” for obese people to encourage them to lose weight.

  • She has been widely criticized for her “beyond damaging” comments and for promoting diet culture.

  • “The toxicity in this piece is that your whole argument centers around shame, which is completely counterintuitive to supporting change,” said nutritionist Dr. Emilia Thompson.

  • Yardley stands by her comments, and told Insider that “the unpopular truth is that diet needs to be addressed in order to

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