Gyms within government buildings in San Francisco have been open for months, despite privately owned establishments being ordered to close due to the coronavirus.
“It’s shocking, it’s infuriating,” Daniele Rabkin, of Crossfit Golden Gate, told a local NBC station. “Even though they’re getting exposed, there are no repercussions, no ramifications? It’s shocking.”
The gyms that have been open for government employees include those for police officers, judges, lawyers, bailiffs, and paralegals, according to the report. One such gym, the Hall of Justice gym, has been open since July 1.
“It just demonstrates that there seems to be some kind of a double standard between what city employees are allowed to do and what the residents of San Francisco are allowed to do,” Dave Karraker, owner of MX3 Fitness in the Castro, said.
“What the city has unwillingly done is created this great case study that says that working out indoors is actually safe,” said Karraker. “So, at this point, we’re just demanding that they allow us to have the same workout privileges for the citizens of San Francisco that the employees of San Francisco have.”
The report comes after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was recorded in a San Francisco salon without a face mask, despite local orders mandating that such establishments be closed.
“It was a slap in the face that she went in, you know, that she feels that she can just go and get her stuff done while no one else can go in, and I can’t work,” salon owner Erica Kious told Fox News last week of Pelosi.
“We have been shut down for so long, not just me, but most of the small businesses, and I just can’t — it’s a feeling — a feeling of being deflated, helpless, and honestly, beaten down,” Kious said.
Pelosi addressed the video after it was released, calling it a “setup” and demanding an apology.
“I take responsibility for trusting the word of the neighborhood salon that I have been to many times,” Pelosi told reporters Wednesday. “When they said they could accommodate people one at a time, and we can set up that time, I trusted that.”
