With the return of limited indoor dining to New York City, dozens of boutique fitness studios are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to allow them to hold indoor group exercise classes as well.

In a letter to de Blasio this week, several elected officials joined studio owners in pushing for yoga, pilates, and other group fitness gyms to teach indoor classes at 25% capacity like restaurants are now allowed to with indoor dining.

“If it has been deemed safe to eat and drink with no masks but with proper social distancing, it follows that exercising six feet apart while wearing a mask and observing all safety protocols should be as safe, if not more so,” said the letter, sent by the United States Fitness Coalition and signed by borough presidents Eric Adams, Gale Brewer, Jimmy Oddo, several council members and state representatives.

The letter points out that gyms have been allowed to reopen since September at a limited capacity, but group fitness classes are still prohibited in New York City. “Based on the State’s own data, the Governor stated in December that the rate of spread in gyms and fitness facilities was very low, accounting for only .06 percent of infections with a known source,” the letter said.

In a press release from the coalition accompanying the letter, the group argued that “group fitness classes are safer than gyms in general – there is more control over capacity numbers, social distancing, shared equipment and contact tracing.”

But the city’s health commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi has said maintaining masks and distancing is more difficult in group classes than a general gym.

“There are settings in which it is difficult to remain wearing one's mask or face covering, and also, it's one where it's more likely for the mask or face covering to become wet or moist, which also makes them less effective,” Chokshi said at de Blasio’s press briefing Tuesday.

When asked for comment, City Hall pointed to Chokshi’s comments made at Tuesday’s press briefing.

The continued closure of the studios has devastated the industry, the coalition said, since many have not been able to offer online courses - about 40% of the studios in New York City have closed. De Blasio was sued in September over the closure of fitness studio classes.

Amanda Freeman, the founder and chief executive officer of SLT boutique gyms, said her 9 NYC-area locations have been forced closed for 11 months resulting in layoffs. "In our locations outside the city, where group classes are allowed, we’ve introduced strict safety protocols, including reduced class sizes, more frequent cleaning, machines spaced six feet apart, contract tracing and, of course, a mask requirement. We are able to open safely in NYC, it makes no sense," Freeman said in an email statement.

In the same statement, gym owner and president of The United States Fitness Coalition Charles Cassara said, "We have not been able to reopen for almost a year, while every other industry has been given the go ahead, we remain left behind. Many of these studio owners have had to foreclose on their homes, try to take money out, or get loans with high interest rates. These closures are directly affecting not just their businesses but their personal lives, and the lives of their employees as well." Cassara also sued Governor Andrew Cuomo in a class action suit over the previous gym closures.

Many of the affected studios are owned and operated by women, the letter said, yet they have not been the beneficiary of dedicated government assistance like the restaurant and arts industries have received.

The fitness studios will follow “all guidelines outlined for gyms,” the coalition said, “including social distancing, reduced capacity, mandatory mask usage, upgraded air filtration systems, temperature checks and contact tracing.”