Health officials in the United States have continued to maintain that ongoing lockdowns are the best solution to fighting COVID-19. Of course, when assessing the endgame of said lockdowns, the goalpost continues to move.
First, health officials claimed that Americans needed to social distance and stay home for a few weeks in order to keep from exhausting hospitals. At this point, hospitals are so unexhausted that healthcare workers are being laid off. Now, the goalpost has moved from not overwhelming hospitals to finding a cure or vaccine for COVID-19 altogether.
The reality is that Americans cannot be expected to remain at home and out of work indefinitely. Thankfully, many judges across the nation understand this.
Earlier in the week, an Ohio judge decreed that gym and fitness centers in the state can reopen, without concerns of retribution from health officials, the state of Ohio, law enforcement officers, prosectuors or others, documents sources.
A Win for Ohio-based Gyms and Fitness Centers
Per the ruling from Judge Eugene Lucci of Lake County Court of Common Pleas, gyms and fitness centers in Ohio can reopen for business.
Judge Lucci also ruled that Ohio Health Director Dr. Amy Acton lacks the “statutory authority” to shutter businesses beyond a two-month period. This ruling comes after various lawsuits against Ohio stay-at-home orders, marking a clear win for the plaintiffs.
This is quite a paragraph from the ruling from Judge Eugene Lucci: pic.twitter.com/LakEQoLnyy
— Karen Kasler (@karenkasler) May 20, 2020
Unlike many others, the Lake County Court judge also realizes the dangers of giving any one person or group — including health directors — too much power. Judge Lucci furthermore explained that the behavior of Dr. Acton is “impermissibly arbitrary, unreasonable, and oppressive.”
There is a certain dark irony in health directors being against the reopening of gyms and fitness centers. Both of these areas are not only beneficial to many people’s mental and physical health, but gyms and fitness centers also allow for social distancing, due to their inherent size.
You can read the full ruling here: https://t.co/Py4RCjRVUr
— Karen Kasler (@karenkasler) May 20, 2020
The stringent and austere measures taken and endorsed by health directors, governors, and others ultimately continue to raise suspicions for many Americans.
Are you pleased with the Ohio judge’s ruling? Why do you think so many health officials are pushing back on reopenings even with the curve of COVID-19 being flattened? Let us know in the comments section below!
