President Donald Trump’s “plan” to re-open America amid the global coronavirus pandemic includes re-opening gyms across the country. Health and medical experts found that strange, given that gyms can be filled with people working out, often close together, breathing heavily – the perfect conditions for, say, a virus that’s transmitted by droplets in the breath to spread.
But as The Daily Beast reports, President Trump spoke to the billionaire owner of Equinox Sports Clubs, Stephen Ross (photo), who is also a top donor to the Trump campaign, just one day before unveiling his plan to re-open America – which includes re-opening gyms in “phase one” of the “plan.”
“Gyms are like a petri dish,” Laurence Gostin, director of the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, told The Daily Beast. “People are close to one another, they’re sweating, they’re coughing and sneezing, they’re touching multiple surfaces, they’re sharing equipment, they’re indoors. Literally all of the heightened risk factors for COVID transmission are all entwined together in a gym.”
Ross is the founder and chairman of the Related Companies, a massive $50 billion corporation that serves as the parent company for among many other businesses, the Equinox Group. Equinox includes Equinox Sports Clubs, SoulCycle, PURE Yoga, Blink Fitness, Precision Run, Equinox Hotels, PROJECT by Equinox, Equinox Explore, and Equinox Media.
Last summer Ross, who also owns the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium, faced a firestorm after hosting a $250,000 a plate fundraiser for President Trump.
The Related Companies happens to also be the largest landlord in New York City.
Outrage over Ross raising a reported $12 million to help Trump get re-elected was huge. Many boycotted Equinox and SoulCycle.