Scandal-scarred Gov. Andrew Cuomo returned to beefing with Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday — reopening indoor fitness classes in New York City just a day after Hizzoner refused to lift the ban.
Classes like yoga and pilates will be able to reopen at 33 percent capacity Monday, Cuomo said in a conference call.
“On reopening, indoor fitness classes will be reopening that’s primarily in New York City on Monday, March 22. Gyms were open, but indoor fitness classes were not open,” Cuomo said. “And that caused a certain amount of consternation. They will open Monday, March 22.”
Though New York’s gyms and fitness centers were allowed to reopen at limited capacity from their COVID-19-induced closures beginning last August, the decision to resume indoor fitness classes was left up to local governments.
In New York City, indoor group fitness classes have remain barred under an executive order issued by de Blasio last August.
On Tuesday, Big Apple boutique fitness class instructors and yoga studio owners rallied outside of Manhattan’s City Hall to demand that the mayor allow them to reopen their indoor businesses.
But de Blasio wasn’t swayed.
“I’ve had this conversation with the health team and they remain very consistent saying ‘not yet,’” de Blasio said at a City Hall press briefing before the protest.
De Blasio spokesman Bill Neidhardt responded to decision to reopen indoor fitness classes Wednesday, saying in a statement to The Post: “New York City will help gyms and fitness centers hold classes as safely as possible, but if Governor Cuomo is going to continue overruling local control during the pandemic, he must show that he is being guided by the data and science, not politics.”
In a tweet, Neidhardt further ripped into the governor, writing, “Cuomo is making public health decisions without any public health rationale. He’s clearly putting politics before the data and science.”
Meanwhile Wendesday, Cuomo also said the 11 p.m. curfew currently in place for New York’s casinos, movie theaters, bowling alley’s, billiard halls, gyms and fitness centers will be lifted on April 5.
The 11 p.m. curfew for restaurants and bars and the 12 a.m. curfew for catered events “will remain in effect for the time being,” said Cuomo.
Both curfews will be evaluated in late-April.
Cuomo also announced that, effective Monday, the restrictions on final five remaining “yellow zone” COVID-19 clusters in the Empire State will be lifted.
Those clusters are in parts of East Bronx, West Bronx, Manhattan, Newburgh, New Windsor and Kew Gardens/Forest Hills in Queens.
Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks
