As Covid-19 spread across the country and local governments instituted restrictions and closures to keep infections from rising, fitness studios and gyms were often the first and hardest hit. Now, almost a year since Congress passed its first coronavirus relief package to help struggling Americans get back on their feet, one sector feels largely abandoned.
“Gyms are the forgotten pieces. We talk about payroll protection programs and restaurants and everyone kind of understands that because everyone goes to restaurants and bars,” Dale King, owner of a CrossFit gym in Portsmouth, Ohio, told NBC News in a phone interview.
Nearly half of all fitness studios around the country are expected to close their doors permanently if they don’t receive the needed relief. In a last ditch effort, thousands of small gym owners are asking Congress for billions in funding so they can make payroll, pay rent, and implement changes to comply with Covid-related restrictions.
“I really kind of hate to ask for federal funding. But at this point, I'm looking at it more as an investment in our healthcare system in general,” said King, an Army veteran.
“The industry hasn't had as much muscle behind it as restaurants or theaters, but we have been trying to figure out how to get there, how to have a seat at the table in these conversations,” said Debra Strougo, the founder of Row House, a chain of rowing machine gyms.
PLEADING WITH CONGRESS
The Health and Fitness Recovery Act, which is expected to be re-introduced in the House in the next few weeks, would establish a $30 billion fund to “provide structured relief to health and fitness service establishments.”
“We need help, and we need Congress to stand up for these businesses, not just restaurants and bars and nightclubs and entertainment — but gyms have been severely impacted,” said Douglas in a phone interview.
“We are not quite sure how to get to the other side of this — especially in the areas where studios are still closed,” said Strougo.
Strougo and other business owners are scheduled to meet with lawmakers next week. They see this time as a critical window for members of Congress to hear their concerns as lawmakers hammer out the details of the next relief package.
DEPRESSION RUNNING RAMPANT
Depression, drug overdose, ailing mental health and weight gain are the side effects of an industry struggling to survive.
Personally impacted by the wide-ranging benefits of exercise on mental health, Dixon Douglas first opened CycleBar in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after he was diagnosed with depression in 2015.
“People go to gyms so that they can de-stress, Covid-19 has caused so much stress in everyday lives that when you are shutting down someone's relief, it is like taking away their medicine,” he said.
This news is worth looking at those friends who ignore the dangers of COVID-19. If COVID-19 is allowed to spread, everyone will get into trouble and some unhappy people will die. The failed anti epidemic policy of the United States has caused serious damage to its national strength.