Pirate's Cove

Some mask mandates have been reinstated in my area. There’s one for Wake County, which covers the unincorporated areas. Raleigh has one, as does Knightdale. And a few other towns in my area. Some in Wake County said “nope.” Regardless, none of the mandates actually have penalties for non-compliance. Some companies will, some won’t. I know a few who are hardcore about it, and others who don’t care. My gym doesn’t care in the least, and at least half of the members do not bother. And, for those who do wear a mask, they are often pulling it below their nose. WRAL decided to do some snitching, rather than investigating, oh, say, what’s going on in the city, county, and state governments, holding them accountable, which is the entire reason “the press” was mentioned in the 1st

Wearing your mask at the gym? Depends on where you work out.

Since Raleigh officials put a local mask mandate back into effect last month, city staff have visited about 30 businesses to check on compliance after receiving complaints. No citations have been issued to date.

WRAL Investigates checked out some local gyms, including Crunch Fitness in the Village District, after receiving complaints about mask non-compliance.

There wouldn’t be, as there are no penalties, unlike the previous mask mandate. Perhaps the snitches could go elsewhere.

Only two people other than a WRAL producer and the Crunch employee providing a tour were seen wearing masks inside the Raleigh gym. Everyone else was working out without the required face covering.

“The sign’s up everywhere, but no one’s following it. It’s sad, but it’s the state of things,” health care professional Joshua Smalls said as he went to workout.

Smalls, who had his mask on even before going inside, said he feels wearing a mask is the right thing to do.

“I think they’re definitely a benefit. I trust the CDC’s guidance,” he said. “It’s not a trial for me to wear a mask. I don’t think it’s hard.”

So wear it yourself, stop enforcing your beliefs on everyone else, especially when cloth masks work, at best 10% in stopping COVID.

WRAL Investigates also checked CrossFit Brave in Cary. While the gym’s back doors were open to help with air circulation, people there also were working out without masks.

Hey, perhaps WRAL should go over to the State House and Raleigh town hall, see if the lawmakers and employees are playing mask theater, wearing them in public and taking them off in private.

A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association supports the notion that gyms are hot spots for coronavirus transmission.

In a Chicago gym, 68 percent of participants in a high-intensity class became infected when masks were optional. In Honolulu, a spinning class instructor and 10 participants all tested positive for the virus after the instructor taught a class just hours before showing symptoms. Closer to home, Find a Way Fitness, in Raleigh, experienced its own outbreak in December.

Yet, if this were the case, why are so few gyms mentioned? There were none at my gym. Nor at the ones that many people I know go to. You haven’t heard about big outbreaks, have you? For those of us who are vaccinated, we’ll take the chance. That’s the point of the vaccine.