ARIZONA NEWS
Arizona health department warns 4 fitness studios to close immediately
PHOENIX — The Arizona Department of Health Services has notified four Valley fitness studios they must close for operating in defiance of state coronavirus policies.
AZDHS posted warning notices on the doors of the following businesses Wednesday:
- Tangible Fitness located at 1500 E. Thomas Road
- The Workshop Pilates located at 8240 N. Hayden Road
- Self Made Training Facility located at 14647 S. 50th Street.
- Radi8 Hot Yoga located at 3950 E. Indian School Road
The warning informs each business their failure to close violates an executive order signed by Gov. Doug Ducey on June 20 — which required gyms to pause operations — and a subsequent order issued July 23 which extended the operational pause.
Businesses were also notified their continued operations were in violation of an emergency measure issued by AZDHS Monday that provided a phased reopening plan for indoor fitness facilities.
“Should the gyms fail to shut down as required, the state can sue them, possible pull any licenses and fine them,” KTAR News 92.3 FM’s legal expert Moncia Lindstrom said.
For gyms to begin reopening, the counties in which they operate must reach a moderate spread of COVID-19 community transmission. That requires cases rates to be between 10-99 per 100,000 residents, a positivity rate between 5-10% and a COVID-like illness rate between 5-10% for two consecutive weeks.
The process also requires gyms to complete an attestation form, which will be automatically approved for eligible facilities once their counties numbers are in the required range, in order to open.
Maricopa County currently has substantial community spread of COVID-19 and falls short of all three benchmarks, though the numbers are trending on the right direction.
