Every state wants to be first in something.
North Carolina on Tuesday, Sept. 1 will move into first place in the nation on restrictions on gyms and fitness centers.
New Jersey announced this week that it would allow gyms to open on Sept. 1, which means North Carolina will be able to claim the title of having the absolute toughest restrictions on gyms and fitness centers in the entire nation.
The credit for this honor goes completely to Gov. Roy Cooper, who has remained steadfast with executive order after executive order mandating that gyms and fitness centers in North Carolina remain closed.
It hasn’t been easy for Cooper. The owners of gyms and fitness centers sued Cooper for the right to open under a set of restrictions much like the restrictions on other businesses that have been allowed to open. But Cooper sent the state’s attorneys to court to defend his position that gyms and fitness centers remain closed and won.
The North Carolina General Assembly tried to get involved and passed a bill that would allow gyms and fitness centers to open under similar restrictions to other businesses allowed to open during Phase 2 of the shutdown of the state’s businesses. Cooper vetoed that bill.
Cooper has repeatedly said that he has based his executive shutdown orders during the COVID-19 crisis on “the science, the data and the facts.” But the fact that the governors of the other 49 states, both Democrats and Republicans, have viewed the science, data and facts about gyms differently has not swayed Cooper.
Cooper’s view of the science, the data and the facts is that gyms and fitness centers should remain closed and the fact that gyms open in the other 49 states have not become hotbeds of COVID-19 transmission is evidently not a fact that holds much weight.
Cooper’s current schedule still calls for North Carolina to move into Phase 3 of the shutdown process on Sept. 11, which should allow gyms to open. But Cooper’s original schedule called for Phase 2 to end on June 26, so it could certainly get extended again. But regardless of when Phase 2 finally ends, it appears that next week North Carolina will be number one in gym shutdowns in the entire USA.
The sad fact is that the far left wants to paint Trump as the authoritarian theat to America when it is evident and completely shown that our “Mandate Mayors” and Governor Cooper are eager to move straight to unilateral usurpation of everyone’s rights indefinitely. The fascists are here and they are smiley faced Democrats locking down the public and letting our cities and business get looted and torn down to appease leftist mobs.
I could not have said it better myself. And the hypocrisy, effectively picking winners and losers is getting so tiresome.We cannot have more than 10 at a wedding, but Comrade Cooper can march down the street with his protestor friends with no mask.
ALL RIGHT KING ROY!!! YOU FINALLY MADE THE TOP OF A LIST FOR YOUR MARXIST/LIBERAL MASTERS!
Now we need our version of Atilis Gym here in NC. A gym owner or owners willing to tell the Emperor he has no clothes.
I’m registered as an independent and vote for both parties. I like Gov Cooper but think he has gone too far on gyms. I will not vote to reelect him this time. Cannot justify his reasoning. Hope he remembers that when election day comes.
Need to do an article how the rest of the country is opening movie theaters, but Roy Boy won’t allow it. He wants us in Phase Zwei forever.
Too bad Dan isn’t a fighter. Should be running to stay Lt. Governor, while Mark Robinson runs against Governor Dictator. At least Mark won’t put up with BS.
MARK IS THE MAN!
I am a member (Silver Sneakers) of Cape Fear Fitness in Southport NC. This gym effectively NEVER closed except for a brief period at the beginning of the COVID epidemic. They opened again when full state restrictions were in place. I wanted to return, but felt it too dangerous, when the gym re-opened during shutdown with a “no mask required” policy. When I stated that this policy put seniors at higher risk than other members ( I am 73) I was roundly rebuffed and shamed by a Dr Eric Lescault who apparently has a financial/ ownership stake in the gym. What do you want to wear a mask for the rest of your life”? “Masks do not work” he scolded (nice bedside manner)! The gym later did agree to 1 hr 4 days a week when masks would be required ( guessing that’s about 5% of available gym hrs).
Ok so ownership and management pretty much have signaled that it’s about money not health and safety.
Perhaps a follow up article exploring what gyms are actually doing, that the governor apparently has no compliance effort in place, would present a more accurate picture of COVID and gym practices in NC.
Isn’t the goal of a business to MAKE money? You act like a business wanting to make a profit is a bad thing. Isn’t Kim Jong Cooper’s goal to race NC to the bottom? He is certainly accomplishing his goal to make NC as dreadful a place to live as it is to do business in.
That gym has the right to require from its patrons, what it sees fit. The government has no right to dictate to any business what it has to require from their customers.
You’re right to stay home if you don’t feel safe going to that gym. However, you have no right to demand that they require everyone to wear masks. You also have the right to find a gym that suits your needs, where you can feel safe.
The practice of a select few being able to demand that the majority bend to their will is why so many good, wholesome things have been removed from schools and the rest of society. This has to stop.
Is everyone else’s liberty worth your safety?? Yes.
If you read the new info the CDC put out this weekend stating that less than 10,000 people world wide have actually died from COVID, I would say the gym in Southport are the smart ones!
I never made the statement masks do not work. That is a complete fabrication. I certainly never scolded an Individuals right to wear a mask. We cannot make it mandatory because it would be a liability if the patient sustained an injury such as passing out because they were forced to wear a mask and work out. It was not a financial decision to open the Fitness center but was requested by the majority of our members. There is no objective data to support anything you stated. I will say that the data we have on hand demonstrates that their have been 0 members infected with COVID by our opening the fitness center. We are all at risk either at walmart, lowes, gas stations & yes fitness centers. Lets shine the light where it needs to shine. The fact that we have a gutless govenor whose acts of restrictions were at best consistently inconsistent. I would be more than happy to discuss this with you face to face. Social media isn’t dialogue it just trying to shame people without the facts. Happy to have dialogue if you would entertain that idea.
To the best of my ability I have seen no evidence anywhere in the world of a Covid-19 outbreak related to a gym that did not involve a group class.
Outside of these group classes, going to a gym to workout is no more dangerous than the grocery store given the evidence. Of course traipsing through either place without practicing common sense hygiene is foolish even on a good day.
Fitness CLUBS have remained open with no outbreak. Sure, they have limited the numbers and done social distancing, etc. No problem.
Likewise, Roy has been inconsistent with other venues. One car racetrack shut down and taken to court while another runs weekly.
All of Cooper’s 3 plus years now as governor has been this way-that way. He will fade into no where when defeated on Nov 3.
Die diktat from Der kommissar.
Kancel der Dipstick
Roy “Little Gavin Newsom” is at it again….
Another fellow former Californian? Cooper does everything Newsom does it’s obvious. They want total control regardless of which proletariat he harms.
Il Duce Dear Leader El Supremo Roy “Let the peasants die screaming” Cooper hath decreed that we shall be in “phase 2” until the sun is a burnt out cinder or a Democrat is president, whichever comes first.