Change To Indoor Mask Mandate In Hoboken: Certain Gyms Exempt

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla announced in a message on Sunday that the city has revised its indoor mask mandate when it comes to fitness-related businesses like gyms and yoga studios. The mayor said patrons who are fully vaccinated can go mask-free as long as: A) The business requires its staff to be fully vaccinated, and B) The business specifically allows vaccinated guests to go unmasked, but still requires masks for unvaccinated people.

"This decision was made to provide an extra degree of flexibility based on feedback to the Executive Order," Bhalla said, "as well as contact tracing that has indicated that infections are an infrequent occurrence at gyms."

[New: Get 4 free COVID tests for your household from the U.S.]

Bhalla Wrote In His COVID Update On Sunday:

"As an update to the face mask Executive Order: gyms, fitness centers, yoga studios, cycling studios, and other health clubs that require vaccinations for all staff and patrons or a face mask for those who are unvaccinated, are exempt from the current face mask requirement for indoor businesses. If these establishments do not require a vaccination or face mask for those who are unvaccinated, face masks are required for all patrons, regardless of vaccination status, whenever social distancing of at least six feet or more is not possible."

Bhalla added, "Thank you to businesses such as Fit Foundry, which practices strict social distancing and requires face masks for those who are unvaccinated, and Prime Cycle, which requires all customers to be fully vaccinated, for helping keep our community safe."

Also in the update, Bhalla released update vaccination statistics for the mile-square city, noting that 95 percent of Hoboken residents 12 and over have received at least the first dose of a COVID vaccine.

COVID hospitalizations remained extremely high but relatively level around New Jersey this past week, with more than 5,000 people in hospitals who are positive for COVID, and more than 500 of those requiring breathing help from a ventilator.

In the last week, 59 Hudson County residents have passed away from COVID. See those statistics, and Hudson County COVID trends for this week, here: COVID In Hudson County This Week: Fatalities, Trends, And Where To Get A Test Locally

In America, more than, 851,000 people have died of COVID since the start of the pandemic. The daily death rate is highest in these states.

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This article originally appeared on the Hoboken Patch