Less than a week after Gov. Roy Cooper blocked an effort to reopen bars during the coronavirus pandemic, state lawmakers have doubled down on their effort to ease restrictions on North Carolina businesses by sending him a measure that would not only reopen bars but gyms as well.
The House voted 69-50 on Wednesday in favor of the measure, following the Senate's 36-13 vote on Tuesday. Cooper now has 10 days to sign the bill, veto it or allow it to become law without his signature.
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"We need to reopen these businesses. We need to do it now to salvage what's left," said Rep. Kyle Hall, R-Stokes. "While the health of our citizens is critically important, so is their general welfare."
Gyms and bars were initially included in Phase 2 of Cooper's three-part plan to resume business and social activities during the pandemic, but he left them out last month, saying the state couldn't afford to restart too many activities at once. His change meant the businesses would remain closed until at least late June.
"We were always led to believe that Phase 2 was going to be when we reopened, and then, at the 11th hour, when we were told we couldn’t reopen, it kind of broke our hearts a lot," said David Hollar, manager of Isaac Hunter's Tavern in downtown Raleigh.
The owners of several gyms and some bars have challenged Cooper's restrictions in court, but a judge on Wednesday denied their request for a temporary restraining order that would have allowed them to reopen immediately.
"I wouldn’t open if I thought that we didn’t have safety measures in place," said Tori Fox, owner of Barre 3 Raleigh. "I have a family, I care about my health and my family's health and, of course, my staff."
Barre 3 has installed an ultraviolet air filtration system, touchless sinks and hand sanitizer stations to prepare for reopening, Fox said.
"It’s a day-to-day, roller coaster of emotions. Can we open? Can we not open?" she said.
Isaac Hunter's Tavern is a plaintiff in one of the bars' lawsuits against Cooper's restrictions. Hollar said he hopes the bill the General Assembly passed makes the court case moot.
"There’s really no reason for Roy Cooper to not pass it," he said. "I understand him not wanting to lose the power to close everything down in case a Round 2 did come around. We want what’s safe for everybody."
The governor noted when he vetoed the first "bar bill" last week that the legislation prevented him or public health officials from closing bars down again if coronavirus infections were to spike in the coming weeks and months.
The latest bill allows such "re-closures" as long as the majority of the Council of State, a group of 10 elected state officials led by Cooper, supports the move.
Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, said health officials also could close a specific business as an "imminent hazard" if an outbreak was traced back to them. The state issued such an order on Tuesday against an Alamance County racetrack that has held weekend races attracting thousands of spectators in defiance of the state's limit on mass gatherings.
"There's some give and take here," McGrady said of the new bill, noting that "no governor is infallible."
But Rep. Darren Jackson, D-Wake, questioned the rush to reopen as the number of coronavirus infections continues to rise across North Carolina and the state is at an all-time high in the number of people hospitalized because of the virus.
"We seem to not be able to agree on the seriousness of this virus," Jackson said, "This is a serious issue."
An antibody study at Wake Forest University that the state is funding has found that only 3 percent of those tested in North Carolina have antibodies to coronavirus – far below the level needed for any sort of herd immunity, Jackson noted.
The new bill would limit gyms to 50 percent capacity – the same level restaurants are now at – and would require staff to wear masks and have their temperatures checked. People working out would have to follow social distancing guidelines, and equipment would have to be disinfected frequently.
Fox said a majority of Barre 3's clients have said they are ready to restart their workout routines.
"We are currently doing some outdoor classes, but they’re in parking lots, and it’s getting so hot and humid that I don’t know how much longer that should last," she said.
Bars would be restricted under the bill to serving customers in outdoor seating areas equal to 50 percent of their indoor capacity. Restaurants also would be allowed to expand their capacity by providing outdoor seating.
"I love this place, and I really don’t want to leave it, and I love this job, but if it comes to the point where bars may not open for a while, I may have to find another source of income," Hollar said.