Latest COVID wave tough on contract workers, says local yoga instructor

A local yoga instructor would like to see a two-week lockdown on non-essentials in Saskatchewan to curb the rise of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.

The pandemic has had a detrimental effect on Sara Irons’ life, friends and family. Financial pressures have been particularly worrisome in recent weeks.

“I’m very concerned. We’re making ends meet,” said Irons, a yoga instructor at Ivy Yoga House in Saskatoon.

Irons said she and her husband have been struggling because of her reduced income, a result of some students feeling unsafe venturing out of their homes and fewer classes being offered as a way to help keep students safe.

Because she’s a contract worker, Irons doesn’t qualify for employment insurance. It has been especially hard with a 16-month-old at home.

“It’s very month to month right now, which is not how we had planned this when we decided to have our daughter pre-pandemic,” Irons said. “We don’t really have any security in that regard because we don’t really know what’s coming down the pipe.”

The owner of Ivy Yoga House is a paramedic, Irons said. The studio has been very focused on prioritizing public health.

“We’re very pro whatever we have to do to stop the spread of COVID,” Irons said.

The yoga studio didn’t stop following COVID-19 guidelines when restrictions were lifted in the province on July 11, either. Irons said staff still space students two metres apart in their studios and only take 14 students in each class.

Irons teaches a mental health wellness class called “Yoga for Emotional Balance.” As someone with a generalized anxiety disorder, Irons understands the difficulties her students can face with mental health, whether or not they have a diagnosed condition.

The class aims to provide students with tools to help them cope in their day-to-day lives. It has been popular and a positive part of the pandemic for her students, Irons said, but with case numbers on the rise again, she’s seeing more students staying home.

“I definitely have lost some students temporarily to the fact that numbers are so scary right now,” she explained.

Irons is generally tired of the pandemic and its implication on her life and the lives of those around her.

When one of the children at her daughter’s small daycare got sick, Irons went with her husband and daughter to get tested. Though both she and her daughter were not feeling well, Irons said HealthLine 811 informed her that her husband didn’t need to be tested.

The family arrived at the testing facility before it opened in the morning and still spent 2 1/2 hours in line waiting to be tested.

“The lineup, by the time we got to the front, was so far back we couldn’t even see,” Irons said.

Irons said she prefers to err on the side of caution, but would still like to see a two-week lockdown imposed in the province to truly get the COVID-19 spread under control.

“It’s so bad. I have friends and family in health care that work in the ERs and work in the ICUs and it’s scary for them,” Irons said, “and hearing what they have to say, I think a two-week lockdown to help support them would be really beneficial.”