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(WWJ) It looks like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is poised to announce next week that she is ready to reopen gyms across the state.
While it won't be official until the governor formally gives the go-ahead, WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick said Friday: "Sources are saying there are strong indications the governor is ready to pull the trigger on reopening gyms around the state as early as next week."
This comes as Whitmer has been in talks with gym owners.
Planet Fitness CEO Bryan Rief said while he is "optimistic," he's not getting too excited just yet.
"We were told we were going to be reopen at the beginning of July and then we saw some incidents that influenced her the other way," Rief said. "And they were cases, the cases at Harper's bar...and that's why I hesitate. It's a fluid situation."
Gyms have been closed in metro Detroit for over six months now under Whitmer's COVID-19 executive orders. That is with the exception of in Northern Michigan, including the U.P. and the Traverse City area, which have already moved on to Phase 5 of the governor's economic recovery plan.
Rief said Planet Fitness is prepared for when Whitmer gives the go-ahead.
"We've gone through the protocols, we report immediately to the public health department and follow their guidelines to notify our members," Rief said. "I've said it before, and I think it's generally safe to say that COVID-19 is not being spread in gyms."
On Friday, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel said it's high time to reopen gyms — as well as movies theaters, bowling alleys and other businesses still shuttered amid the pandemic."I mean, the curve has been flattened," he told WWJ's Jon Hewett.
"Believe it or not, many of them are opening anyways," Hackel added, making clear that county authorities will not be taking action against gyms and other businesses that reopen against Whitmer's orders.
It is not yet clear if the coming announcement by Whitmer will be just for gyms, or if it could include theaters and the rest.
At a news conference Tuesday, Whitmer said she wasn't ready to make a decision just yet, telling reporters: "We know that there's a lot of pressure, of course, on our business owners as well as on decision makers and our public health officials. We're going to continue to make decisions based on facts and recommendations from health experts like Dr. Khaldun and the University of Michigan Public Health, et cetera."
Michigan on Friday surpassed 100,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, becoming the 19th state in the U.S. to top that number.