Local business responds to governor's pause on re-opening Washington

SEATTLE, WA - Governor Jay Inslee on Tuesday announced big changes to the re-opening of Washington, which might make things difficult for some businesses.

Inslee announced the extension of the current pause on any counties ability to move forward in the phased re-opening system until at least July 28th.

He says it’s also possible other restrictions may be announced.

For people like Kaelon Christopher, that could hurt business.

“I went down from seeing 20 people a week to seeing two people a week,” he said.

Christopher is a personal trainer.

Over the last few weeks, he’s had to get creative, doing sessions over video chats as well as in his backyard.

Under Phase 2 in King County, gyms have reopened. However, there are restrictions in place. Christopher also says some of his customers don’t feel comfortable going back in the gym.

That makes things tough for him.

“Obviously, if I’m at the gym, I have a better chance of getting more clients and getting more business faster,” he said.

At this point he has only been able to get back up to a little less than half of the normal number of clients he sees.

However, despite this impact on his business, he says he supports the governor’s decision to slow down the re-opening process.

“As a community, I’m all for it. Because I want Seattle to be safe and healthy above everything else,” he said.

Inslee says current cases are higher on a daily basis than what we thought was the peak a few months ago.