Photo by Andi Dukleth
Above: North Park Fitness owner Lewis Wiggins inside his empty gym on July 23, 2020. Gov. Gavin Newsom has ordered all indoor operations from gyms, restaurants and bars to close to stem the spread of coronavirus.
In the months since Gov. Gavin Newsom issued the first stay at home order in March, it’s been a difficult time for business owners, with an ever-changing series of orders that can be hard to follow.
“You gotta decide, what’s doing the right thing,” said North Park Fitness owner Lewis Wiggins. For him, doing the right thing meant following the rules and closing his doors for the second time.
Other gyms, like Boulevard Fitness have followed a different path. They’ve decided to defy the county’s health orders and stay open, insisting they can operate safely.
Wiggins says he sympathizes because he’s losing thousands of dollars a week. But he said, “It would be that much more devastating if one of my members, one of my employees, myself, caught COVID 19, so I mean when you put those two together, it was a pretty easy decision.”
Reported by John Carroll , Video by Andi Dukleth
The situation with gyms in San Diego is playing itself out in various ways around the county, and that is more than likely what led yesterday to the announcement of a “safe reopening compliance team."
At Wednesday’s county news conference, Supervisor Greg Cox said the team would take a carrot and stick approach. The configuration of the team is still being discussed between the County and cities. But when it’s up and running, Cox said it will help where it can and enforce when it must.
“We still have the stick and other tools available to us and we will use them if necessary,” Cox said.
Lewis Wiggins said local and state governments now need to step up and do the right thing to help businesses that are following the rules.
“The government’s the one who shut us down, so you got to help us out, that’s the bottom line. You got help us from the top to the bottom. Two times to close, it’s just, it’s hard," he said.
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John Carroll
General Assignment Reporter & Anchor
I'm a general assignment reporter and Saturday morning radio anchor for KPBS. I love coming up with story ideas that aren't being covered elsewhere, but I'm also ready to cover the breaking news of the day. In addition, I bring you the local news headlines on Saturday mornings during NPR's Weekend Edition.
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