Some NC gym owners defying pandemic restrictions, while others prepare lawsuit over delayed reopening
The owners of several gyms and fitness studios across North Carolina say they will file a lawsuit Wednesday against Gov. Roy Cooper over restrictions he has put in place that have kept them closed during the coronavirus pandemic.
When Cooper laid out a three-phase plan last month to resume business and social activities statewide amid the pandemic, fitness centers were part of the second part of the plan. But when the governor actually moved the state into Phase 2 last week, gyms were left out, meaning they would have to remain closed for at least five additional weeks.
Robin Gardner-Smith and Ed Smith, who own about a dozen Fit4Life health clubs across the state, are among the plaintiffs in the pending lawsuit. They maintain that the state's restrictions are unconstitutional, violating their right to earn a living and enjoy the fruits of their labor.
"It’s ridiculous what he is doing to people. People need to exercise, they need to get out," Smith said.
"We’ve already not had income for two months, and the numbers just don’t justify what the governor is doing," Gardner-Smith said. "We are cleaned, we are sanitized. We were ready to open, thinking we were going to open in the second wave,. and we were really surprised to not be included."
Cooper and Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state Department of Health and Human Services, have said they scaled back the initial Phase 2 plans because the number of coronavirus cases in North Carolina continues to increase. They say a go-slow approach in which higher-risk activities aren't all reopened at the same time could prevent a sudden spike in infections that would force the state into another shutdown.
In addition to gyms, bars and indoor entertainment venues like movie theaters were left out of the revised Phase 2 plans.
Bar owners have also threatened legal action over the restrictions. Like the gym owners, they say they have prepared to reopen and can operate under the same guidelines that have allowed restaurants statewide to reopen: operate at half capacity, implement social distancing rules and adhere to strict sanitizing protocols.
More than two dozen "gentlemen's clubs" statewide already have filed a federal lawsuit, alleging that the restrictions violate their constitutional rights.
Regardless of the outcome of the gym lawsuit, Smith and his wife said they plan to reopen Fit4Life next Monday. Other gym owners have already reopened, based on videos and statements posted on social media.
"We just feel that what they’re doing is unconstitutional to us, to make private business shut down while they deem it so," Smith said.
John Taube, the owner of Raleigh Institute of Martial Arts, held an outdoor class last Friday evening at the start of Phase 2.
“When restaurants open, we’ll open too,” Taube said. “We’re defying Gov. Cooper’s order, and I want to be arrested. I am not going to let my business be a political pawn by the governor.”
Law enforcement authorities said they prefer to use education to encourage business owners to follow the state restrictions and will only respond to complaints to enforce the rules.
Even before the lawsuits, gym and fitness center owners turned to social media to create petitions and GoFundMe pages urging Cooper to allow them to reopen.
Gardner-Smith created the Reopen NC's Health Clubs account on GoFundMe to raise $30,000 for legal costs, and nearly $25,000 had been donated by Tuesday.
"As the owner of RockBox in Cary, we are fully prepared to reopen in a safe and considerate fashion with limited capacity," Jeff McFarlane, who donated $500, wrote on the account's page. "This highly arbitrary decision to exclude gyms, even small boutique fitness centers, was ill advised."
A petition on change.org had also garnered more than 26,000 signatures by Tuesday morning.
"Gyms are fully capable of following the social distancing guidelines set fourth by the CDC," the petition reads. "Let them open and enable people to take control of their mental and physical wellbeing."A local gym owner went against state restrictions and opened his business last Friday.
