NYC gyms will be allowed to open in September

After dashing hopes that gyms would reopen in August, Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed that they'd be allowed to reopen in New York City as of September 2.

In an interview on WNYC, the mayor confirmed that gyms would be allowed to reopen with stipulations.

Aside from safety protocols like frequent cleaning and limiting the amount of people allowed inside, indoor group classes will not be allowed and pools will stay closed.

Governor Andrew Cuomo had  announced that fitness centers would finally be able to reopen on August 24 with a reduced capacity of 33 percent and various health protocols, but last week, de Blasio said that would not be the case for NYC.

In order to reopen under state guidelines, gyms would have to be inspected by the city's health department to make sure they're following regulations and to determine whether each gym can have classes. Unfortunately, the city didn't have enough bandwidth to do both gyms and schools, the mayor said.

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"This is about health and safety first," the mayor said. "One thing the governor's executive order makes clear — local discretion is in a lot of this — and based on reality in New York City, we won't start before September 2. I want to be real clear: the priority is going to be on the inspections we need to do for childcare centers and schools."

September 10 is the proposed opening date for NYC schools, but many lawmakers are pushing for a delayed start.

Even when reopening gyms is possible, the regulations will still prove difficult for many local gyms. 

BK Fit, which has been offering outdoor training at its locations and at an outdoor facility for several weeks now, says it'll continue doing so for those uncomfortable working out indoors. It'll also offer access to its indoor facilities 24/7, according to its Instagram account.

View this post on Instagram

. Tomorrow Gov Cuomo will announce his plans to reopen gyms in NY. It’s our understanding that we will be allowed to operate at 25% capacity, wearing masks and social distancing, not exactly ideal 😕 . . We will continue to run our classes in our outdoor gyms, parks and curbside. For our members that are comfortable with training indoors we’ll have that option available too. We will also run our curbside classes simultaneously with our indoor classes . . We understand that most of you are not comfortable training indoors in groups and we have solutions 🖤 . When we are allowed to open. We will also offer 24/7 access to all our gyms as a stand alone membership or included with our Elite and Unlimited memberships. #wegotthis💪

A post shared by BK FIT (@bkfitstudios) on Aug 16, 2020 at 3:50am PDT

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