LANSING, Mich. – A group of Michigan gym owners met in Lansing Friday to plead with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to reopen gyms.
They believe that keeping the gyms closed, it keeps Michiganders from getting healthy.
“We’re again reaching out to the administration of Michigan to work with them to help Michigan become a healthier state,” said Ed Eickhoff, with Planet Fitness Michigan Group.
Gyms have been in a push and pull with the governor for months -- Particularly after she allowed bars and hair salons to reopen, but excluded gyms. In late June gyms were ordered to open by a Michigan court before promptly being shutdown again by a court of appeals.
In Lansing Friday, gym owners are claiming Michigan’s obesity rate -- and a strain on mental health during the pandemic -- make their business essential to help fight off the virus.
“Gyms are part of the solution, not the problem,” said Alyssa Tushman with Burn Fitness. “It is imperative that we become healthier so that we can survive situations like this.”
Whitmer hinted she may be close to reopening gyms, but warned there were still high hurdles.
“When you’re breathing heavily, that’s is one of the more dangerous factors around the spread of COVID, when you’re in closed quarters and inside. So we would have to have some very serious and tight protocol around it. But we are working with the industry,” Whitmer said.
Michigan is one of eight states that still has its gyms closed.
- View more: Reopening Michigan