Mountainside Fitness Opens Despite Application Denial From Arizona Department Of Health Services
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Despite having their application denied by the Arizona Department of Health Services, Mountainside Fitness has reopened all its 18 locations Thursday.
Mountainside Fitness, a Phoenix-area chain of gyms, has been sparring with Gov. Doug Ducey in court over his closure orders. The company announced last Friday that it would reopen its metro locations even though its waiver application with the Department of Health Services has not been approved.
Dr. Cara Christ, director of the Department of Health Services, said Monday that Mountainside owner Tom Hatten’s announcement wasn’t that far off — even though her department denied its waiver request Sunday. About 90 gyms and a handful of bars and theaters have won waivers.
“We believe Maricopa County is probably going to hit moderate on Thursday,” Christ said. “So they actually wouldn’t be out of line with saying they were planning on opening this week.”
The gym chain says Department of Health Services has subjective standards, so they enlisted the services of a third-party certification company called HealthyVerify, which it claims is supported by health professionals. Mountainside will be adhering to its own set of protocols.
Mountainside has been in a legal fight with the state since being closed in June. Mountainside won a court order requiring the governor to provide a way for closed businesses to apply for reopening. The state unveiled a plan Aug. 10 allowing gyms to apply to reopen at a limited capacity and with health precautions once the spread of the virus within their county is downgraded to moderate or minimal.
