Indoor fitness classes can resume in New York City starting March 22nd, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday -- just a day after Mayor Bill de Blasio repeated his opposition to allowing groups of people to exercise indoors in close proximity.
The fitness classes will be limited to 33% capacity, Cuomo said on a conference call with reporters. Participants will be required to wear masks and sign in with contact information. The studios will undergo inspections by local health departments.
Gyms have been allowed to reopen since September of 2020 at a limited capacity, but indoor group fitness classes have been suspended since March 2020.
SLT gyms founder and chief executive officer Amanda Freeman hailed the decision. “I am relieved and elated that the Governor has stepped up to make this decision at this time. It is certainly the fair, just and right decision and will allow more New Yorkers to return to work and to their health routines. The data and science have shown that we are not a meaningful source of Covid spread, so we are thrilled to be able to get back to business,” Freeman said in a statement.
On Tuesday, Freeman and about 20 other fitness studio owners protested outside City Hall to demand that indoor group fitness classes resume, citing low rates of known COVID-19 infection being linked to gyms and facilities.
When asked about Freeman’s group protest at his press briefing Tuesday, de Blasio said indoor fitness classes come “with particular vulnerabilities, particular problems.”
Dr. Jay Varma, the mayor’s senior health advisor, said he’s concerned about “people in close proximity breathing heavily and the likelihood that masks may fail because they get wet or because they come off of people.”
Indoor fitness classes "are the settings where we have seen COVID-19 spread. And those are the factors that facilitate that spread,” added Health Commissioner Dr. David Chokshi, referring to proximity and ineffective masking.
Asked about Cuomo's announcement, the mayor's office said that although they'll follow state guidance, they continue to be concerned about possible transmission inside fitness classes.
“New York City will help gyms and fitness centers hold classes as safely as possible, but if Governor Cuomo is going to continue overruling local control during the pandemic, he must show that he is being guided by the data and science, not politics,” said de Blasio's press secretary Bill Neidhardt in a statement.
Another studio owner, Jillian Schiavi of Arise Yoga in Crown Heights, let out a deep breath when informed of the reopening of classes. “Oh my God,” she said in a phone interview. “I've been able to keep my teachers employed by teaching from their homes this whole time, (but) we've definitely dropped a lot and had a ton of losses in terms of memberships, revenue, and all kinds of things.”
Reopening in-person fitness classes, especially for yoga, will be a big relief, Schiavi siad. “This is a practice that is best experienced in person...it's very different when you're doing it in your kitchen.”
