By WECT Staff | May 21, 2020 at 1:38 PM EDT – Updated May 21 at 3:08 PM
RALEIGH, N.C. (WECT) – When Gov. Roy Cooper announced Wednesday that Phase 2 of reopening the state would begin Friday, gyms were not among the list of businesses that got the go-ahead to reopen.
During a news briefing Thursday, Dr. Mandy Cohen, the Secretary of the NC Department of Health and Human Services, discussed the reason why fitness centers were not included in this phase of reopening.
“You know as you work out you obviously breath more heavily and more intensely,” Cohen said. “This a viral respiratory pathogen. It is something that is expelled through your droplets of your mouth and your nose, which obviously come out with more force and can be at more distance when you are working out.
“Some had said is it because of the sweat. It is not an issue related to sweat. It really is more about the heavier breathing that you do naturally when you are doing any of the athletics in a gym setting. But it is also knowing that when you are working out, folks are not going to be wearing a mask covering in order to get good ability to breath in deeply.”
HAPPENING NOW: Members of the Coronavirus Task Force are hold a briefing on COVID-19 updates.
Posted by WECT News on Thursday, May 21, 2020
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