New research from doctors at John Hopkins University suggests a link between obesity and more severe cases of COVID-19.
In Delray Beach the co-owner or SLASH Fitness says now new memberships are on the rise.
A few times a week, you’ll find Timothy Finley breaking a sweat at SLASH Fitness.
“You sit around, you tend to start picking at this and picking at that. I’m 55 now and overweight,” he said.
Finley is not alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control more than 42 percent of adults are obese— a significant pre-existing condition for COVID-19 according to a report published by three physicians at John Hopkins University.
“If you don’t know the spectrum of illness you can get from something and you are placed into a risk category, than sure like anything else it’s concerning,” Finley said.
“Just in the last three to four weeks we’ve had 60 plus new members,” Joe Ardagna said.
Like many small businesses Ardagna, the co-owner of SLASH Fitness says the COVID-19 pandemic severely hurt their operations.
Once gyms were allowed to reopen he says the interest wasn’t instant.
“What we were starting to see was old clients were starting to step in the door we weren’t getting as many new clients yet,” he said.
He says now he’s helping dozens of overweight and obese clients take back control of their lives. In hopes of dropping out of the high risk group.
“Get outside, go for a walk, go for a jog, get the bicycle going,” Ardagna said. “Anything to stay in physical condition so you can fight this thing off.”
