Roxboro gym reopens to people with medical conditions as state releases new guidelines

ROXBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- Gyms are able to reopen to customers with medical conditions. ABC11 stopped by Rox Fitness in Roxboro to see how they are keeping their clients safe.

Betty Rosenbaum, 68, was one of those taking advantage of the medical loophole.

"I have a lot of back problems," Rosenbaum said. "I need to build my back up."

Rosenbaum has worked out every day for the past week. We asked her if she felt safe.

"I sure do," she responded.

Staff members check-in clients. Volunteers also check their temperature and have them sign liability waivers.

Lindsay Carver, a fitness instructor at Rox Fitness, said those working out under the medical loophole are doing so by acknowledging they have been referred by a physician.

Legally, the gym can't ask people what their medical condition is.

But some have volunteered that information.

"People with arthritis, people with high blood pressure, people with heart disease," Carver elaborated.

This week, the State Health Department released guidelines for gyms opening for medical reasons.

Some of the requirements include:

• Spreading out equipment and keeping guests six feet apart;

• Gyms must ensure employees wear masks, as well as customers when not working out.

"We've already checked so many of those boxes before we ever saw those guidelines," Carver.

Rox Fitness also installed barriers between cardio equipment, and no-drinking signs are posted by water fountains.

The state has also recommended these measures, and it's the same precautions Scott Wesley is taking at his private gym since reopening two weeks ago.

But even with a limited reopening, gym owners said they are suffering.

"You're operating at 20-30 percent of what you normally are," Wesley said. "I just think it's devastating."

Gov. Roy Cooper said gyms will remain closed to the general public through at least mid-July.