YMCA in a sweat over insurance costs

The YMCA of Greater Oklahoma City closed steam rooms and saunas at five metro clubs Monday due to rising insurance costs.

Premiums are increasing for the facilities as insurers claim the rooms can create heat-related health hazards and provide a breeding ground for germs, according to Oklahoma City’s News 9.

“Sometimes the controls can be changed and it can be too hot for some of our members and it’s difficult to control and monitor those because they are in the locker rooms,” YMCA spokeswoman Rachel Klein told a reporter on Saturday.

The spa rooms are also havens for disease, the news channel reported. “Routinely packed with semi-nude, sweaty bodies, a steam room can be more like a walk-in Petri dish. Everything from the cold virus, to E.coli and even potentially deadly MRSA bacteria have been found hiding in the hot and humid rooms.”

“They are hard to keep clean and sanitary,” Ms. Klein said. “The closing of these is proactive so hopefully to make sure [an infection] never happens.”