Gym owners in the Hudson Valley are upset after the announcement this week that gyms originally allowed to reopen in Phase 4 would no longer be able to open. Spectrum News spoke to the owner of one Middletown gym about how he's feeling about the change.

"It's very frustrating," said Damola Akinyemi, the owner of Ayo Fitness Gym. "First things first, because Phase 4 was the last phase, we got put into the last phase, which is neither here nor there, it is what it is, but then to be told that we are not going to be allowed to reopen for the fourth phase; it means we are indefinitely closed."

For Akinyemi, the three-month shutdown has meant three months without collecting gym fees from customers — which has had a devastating impact on his bottom line.

"We still gotta pay our bills," said Akinyemi. "I have an almost $12,000 Orange & Rockland bill waiting for me; where's that coming from?"

But he used the time to complete thousands of dollars in renovations to facilitate social distancing; installing clear plastic dividers between cardio machines to ensure his gym is safe for customers when they are able to return.

"We knocked all the walls down in this section over here just to expand the gym into this space," said Akinyemi.

They’ve even created a sanitizing process for customers before they enter the front door which includes temperature checks, and spraying customer's shoes with a bleach solution. They've also placed floor markers throughout the gym reminding users to stay six feet apart.

Akinyemi dismisses the idea that the air conditioning in gyms could transmit the coronavirus.

"The air in the supermarket isn’t any better than the air in here; it's no better than the air in the tattoo parlor that's open," said Akinyemi.

Despite making renovations and preparing to reopen, there's still no reopening date in sight.

"The longer we pull this for, the more I can see how businesses go, ‘You know what, it's actually more expedient to close permanently than to try to salvage anything,' " said Akinyemi.