The Electricity Fitness Alliance, a cohort of local gyms and fitness studios, sent instructions to Mayor Muriel Bowser and Electricity Health director LaQuandra Nesbitt requesting an exemption in the indoor mask mandate. Rather, the coalition really wants to require evidence of vaccination, with “strict documentation checks.”
Signed by 16 studios, the appeal is as a result of last week’s mask order requiring face coverings inside restaurants, gyms, and museums. One of the signers is Solidcore, the boutique fitness studio that temporarily closed after freely defying the mayor’s limitations on indoor workout classes last fall.
“Our companies are disproportionately influenced by mask mandates, as customers are delay by the thought of exercising having a mask, potentially restricting remarkable ability to breathe easily when they do exercise,” the letter asserts.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Bowser was non-committal when requested about instituting a vaccination requirement at locations for example gyms. (Earlier on that day, New You are able to City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced evidence of vaccination could be needed at many venues in the jurisdiction). The letter’s signers stated discrepancies in the present mask mandate across indoor locations, particularly bars and restaurants.
“For example, it appears counterproductive for the clients who on the Saturday night can stand literal inches from other people inside a crowded bar having a drink within their hands with no mask on, but who on Monday morning – even just in a completely vaccinated fitness class or gym – are needed to workout having a mask on,” notes the letter.
This isn’t the very first time the fitness industry makes comparisons for their hospitality counterparts. Once the mayor announced the restriction on indoor workout classes this past year, some studio proprietors expressed confusion concerning the perceived double standard-if indoor dining was safe enough to stay operational, why wasn’t indoor exercise? Safeguards prohibiting indoor fitness classes were later peeled in March, although with capacity limits in position