Shiawassee Times

The debate about which businesses should be classified as "essential" rages on in Michigan, and one gym owner took her frustrations to the Joint Select Committee on the COVID-19 Pandemic to find out why bars have been given the opportunity to reopen while her gym must operate under restrictions that are limiting memberships and revenues.

Rep. Ben Frederick (R-Owosso) invited Brianna Carroll, owner of Fitness Coliseum in Owosso, to testify before the committee about the negative impact Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive orders are having on her business.  

“We can sanitize,” Carroll told the committee, according to the Michigan House Republicans website. “We can keep people distanced. We can cap class sizes when we run classes. Why can you go to a bar and get a drink 6 feet from someone, but you can’t come to my gym where we can use the same precautions?”

Frederick believes the governor’s executive orders lack clarity, and many small business owners whose businesses have been deemed "nonessential" do not know what they need to do to reopen.

Business owners like Carroll have submitted documents to the governor’s office detailing plans to reopen safely, but according to Frederick, the administration has not been responding to their submissions.

“People have poured their lives into these operations,” Frederick said, according to Michigan House Republicans. “It’s very demoralizing to make them wait months -- five or six months and counting in some cases -- with uncertainty as to when or if they’ll be able to safely open their doors again or what they need to do to see that process through.”

Carroll told the committee she is ready and willing to work within the necessary guidelines to keep her members safe. “I am ready to serve my members safely and completely,” she said, according to Michigan House Republicans.

Whitmer has yet to release a timetable for "nonessential" businesses to reopen, citing concerns that it just isn’t safe to do so at this time.