A group of 35 gyms filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Health and it’s director, Dr. Amy Acton, for a new stay at home order that forces gyms to remain closed.
The complaint states that Dr. Acton and the Ohio Department of Health have “arbitrarily criminalized all safe gym, fitness, and recreation operations” without providing any process to decide if and when the gyms are safe enough to resume operations, according to CityBeat.
Dr. Acton extended Ohio’s stay at home order, which was set to expire April 30, until May 29. The “Stay Safe Ohio” order was introduced alongside Governor Mike DeWine’s “Responsible Restart Ohio” plan, which allows businesses to start reopening beginning the week of May 11. Retail stores, salons and restaurants will begin a staggered reopening throughout the remainder of May, according to Cleveland 19. Other businesses, including gyms, are required to wait to see how inital reopenings go before they can reopen. (RELATED: Protestors Start Doing Push-Ups, Squats While Urging Florida Lawmakers To Reopen Gyms)
“In prohibiting healthy behavior through exercise at Ohio gyms,” the complaint says, “defendants continue to obstruct rather than advance Ohioans’ health, all the while having continuously overinflated the risk of harm to the general public.”
The 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, a nonprofit law firm suing on behalf of the gyms, said in a press release that Dr. Acton’s “unfettered discretion over matters of quarantine” is “impermissibly vague and violate separation of powers on its face.”
The case is now pending in the Lake County Court of Common Pleas.
