How Ontario nudists are handling being completely exposed in the time of COVID-19

People across Canada are covering up with masks and gloves to ward off COVID-19 and public health officials are constantly urging everyone to wash their hands.

But what happens if your way of life leaves a lot more of you exposed?

That's the question being asked by places like Ponderosa Nature Resort in Freelton, a rural area of Hamilton, where residents there are juggling their lifestyle with fears for the future of the business.

Stéphane Deschênes has similar worries. He's been a naturist for 30 years. Most days he's wearing a magnificent moustache — and nothing else.

Does being nude make staying clean during a pandemic more difficult?

"It's actually a lot easier," he said with a laugh.

"I can walk out of my office, grab a clean towel … have a shower, and go back to work and now it's as if I put on all new clothes."

Ponderosa bills itself online as "Canada's Loveliest Family Nudist Resort."

With the weather starting to warm up, spokesperson Shawn Rutledge said right about now is typically when their busy season would kick off.

"In a normal year we'd be rubbing our hands together right about now thinking 'we better get ready to get open.'"

But this is not a normal year.

Ponderosa is made up of a mixture of year-round residents, seasonal campers and people just passing through for a weekend.

That means there are some people staying at the resort now, but its community centre, pools and saunas are closed in compliance with government directives to stop the spread of the virus.

"What we want to do and what we could do are two different things," Rutledge said.

"We are remaining closed for the safety of everybody here. Some of the residents are elderly, there are people with health issues, so it's a big concern for everybody."

The residents are a tight-knit community that's banding together to get through the virus, he added. Snowbirds coming home from warmer climates were able to isolate for the mandatory 14 days because their neighbours were willing to pick up groceries and other necessities for them.

"We're the same as everybody else," said Rutledge. "We're super focused on just surviving ourselves health-wise through this crisis and then business-wise is secondary."

Business hanging on by its fingernails

Deschênes, who owns ​Bare Oaks Family Naturist Park near Newmarket, Ont., agrees community is a big part of being a naturist and something he's really started to miss amid COVID-19.

"It's hard to describe, but the whole idea is once you drop your clothes you present a truer person," he said, acknowledging that may sound weird to some. "There is an emotional change in you because when you put clothes on it changes who you are, it's a bit of a costume. We miss that for sure."

But, he was quick to point out, the resorts are not about physical contact.

"Those are not naturist clubs, those are sex clubs," he said. The closest contact people typically have is a handshake or maybe a hug if they know the other person really well.

Deschênes and his wife run the park which covers 50 acres and offers serviced campsites, a restaurant, guest rooms and cabins.

It welcomes a few thousand visitors every season and boasts more than 700 members, though he wonders how many will renew this year.

That's because, like most businesses across the country, the park has been shut down by COVID-19. He's already cancelled an EDM dance party, but is holding on to a faint hope the physical distancing restrictions health experts are calling for now might be rolled back in time for the park's big volleyball tournament.

"There's lots of questions, lots of concerns," he explained. "I'm just assuming it's going to be a tight year."

Rutledge anticipates a tough year too, but expects the resort will make it by relying on residents and running on a skeleton staff.

"We're hanging on by our fingernails kind of thing, we're not making any money. We're just getting by."

Deschênes said while this season might be a "lousy" one for business he has faith in his business's X factor.

"The difference is once you've discovered naturism it's not something you'll give up fairly easily. It's kind of life changing."

No sanitizer on the body — 'that would be nasty'

Deschênes believes wearing clothes can give people a false sense of security when it comes to cleanliness and keeping a virus away.

The concept struck him early on in the pandemic and he considered writing a blog post about it, but didn't want to seem opportunistic or like he was using a health crisis to push his lifestyle on people.

"There's somehow an assumption that it's dirtier, but it's not," he explained. "The best place to grow microorganisms is in a dark, moist warm area. Think about what you're wearing right now. Do you think there are any of those around?"

Now that might not be a very nice thing to reflect on, but the naturist argues wearing only what nature intended allows air to flow and avoids heat buildup.

The park has had sanitizer dispensers since the SARS outbreak, but Deschênes says he only recommends using it on the hands so sanitizer baths are out of the question.

"That would be nasty. Woo-hoo-hoo! No hand sanitizer on the body."

He's conscious of hygiene and even though the park is closed right now, he still has a cleaner coming in to disinfect the office every night and someone wipes down all touch surfaces at least three times each day.

"We're being very careful and we're definitely doing things differently. Am I showering more often? No, I wouldn't say so," he said with a laugh. "But I'm not feeling like I'm exposing myself, pardon the pun, to the virus at this point in most of my day to day."