McComber’s new Lake Placid Unites Facebook page was designed to offer a comfort blanket for the community, by offering a space for positivity rather than gloom and doom, and it’s worked. By the end of the second week, more than 700 people had signed up.

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Hammer down

March 16 was no ordinary day. In past years, McComber would have spent some of his time thinking about how to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, his favorite holiday, but not this year. Survival was on his mind.

First thing in the morning — at 6:37 a.m. — he shared a Facebook post from American Specialty Ammo that described his frame of mind:

“Lots of small business will go out of business due to this viral outbreak. They will not survive weeks of little or zero cashflow. If you can do just one thing today, shop local and buy something from a small business. Make that effort.”

Then it happened. The confirmed cases of COVID-19 were continuing to rise in the state, and the governor took more bold action. After multiple days of issuing mandates to force New Yorkers to create social distancing — by reducing the number of people at gatherings and in businesses — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a regional approach with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut.

At 10 a.m., Cuomo said that crowd capacity for recreational and social gatherings would be limited to 50 people, restaurants and bars would close for on-premise service and move to take-out and delivery only, and movie theaters, gyms and casinos would temporarily close — all effective at 8 p.m. that day.

“Our primary goal right now is to slow the spread of this virus so that the wave of new infections doesn’t crash our healthcare system, and everyone agrees social distancing is the best way to do that,” Cuomo said.

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Uncertainty

What did this mandate mean for McComber’s business? He had tons of questions. Could he do any business during the temporary shutdown? What kind of relief systems were in place for small businesses? His initial reaction could best be described with one word.

“Panic at first, obviously, because it was so sudden,” McComber said by phone Tuesday, March 31.

He turned to friends in the fitness industry for answers, then an office in Albany to find out what he was allowed to do. Everything was happening so fast, not everyone knew the facts.

“Day to day, hour to hour, things were changing,” McComber said.

Someone from Albany told him he didn’t have to close the gym as long as he limited the number of people to 50, so he started making plans for those restrictions.

“I had a big sigh of relief, went home for lunch, and figured, ‘OK, we’re going to be OK for this,'” McComber said. “And while I was at lunch, that number went from 50 to 10, no more than 10 at a time.”

Even though the governor’s announcement was clear — that all gyms would have to close by 8 p.m. that day — McComber was still getting wrong information. After calling someone in Albany again, he was told the keep the number of people in his business to 10 at a time instead of 50. So he started making plans for those restrictions.

“As that steam started to go forward, this time I called an Essex County number. … What exactly do I have to do to follow everything they are asking?”

This time, he got the correct information.

“Gyms are ordered to close,” he said. “Back to the drawing board.”

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Certainty, sort of

McComber began to worry and panic. He was trying to juggle conflicting messages from the government. At first they said don’t go to gyms. Then they said go to gyms because staying healthy is important.

“We really pride ourselves here on being really clean anyway, and we had already taken precautions,” McComber said, adding that his employees were disinfecting surfaces every hour.

But that wasn’t the point. It was really about keeping people away from each other so they didn’t catch or spread the novel coronavirus.

One thing was certain; the gym was closed.

But what did that mean for McComber’s 10 staffers, his customers and his family?

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The pivot

While some gyms began charging members for online classes after the shutdown, Fitness Revolution started offering free workout sessions with a trainer on Facebook Live. Some trainers who had already been paid by clients continued working with them either online or outside, using social distancing techniques such as keeping at least 6 feet apart.

“We’re trying to do everything we can do here just to keep the community fit,” McComber said, adding that it’s important to his customers that they stay on their mission to keep active and healthy.

Even so, most of his employees were out of work. Those who applied early for unemployment insurance with the state Department of Labor had no problem, but those who waited a little longer have found the system “overloaded.”

As of March 31, McComber still hadn’t received clear information about getting unemployment insurance for himself as a small business owner.

“It’s been a learning process,” he said.

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Lost sleep

McComber wrestles with insomnia at times, but now it’s even worse.

“It’s terrible,” he said. “At night, I’m my own worst enemy. You’re thinking about what tomorrow’s going to bring, what bad news you’re going to hear. … Some people find solace in sleep and therapy in sleep. For me, it’s just the opposite. I’m a pretty active-minded person anyway, so this is just made it worse.”

McComber also knows he has to stay positive in order to get through this crisis.

“So how do you get up the next day being positive when you have all these fears of providing for your family, providing for your staff, providing for your members,” he said.

For McComber, the gym isn’t just a business. It’s an integral part of the community. It’s his extended family. It’s a way of life.

“Fitness has saved my life more than once in some way or another,” he said. “And I’ve shared tears in this office. I’ve shared high-fives in this office. I’ve been to wedding for members. I’ve been to funerals for members. It is an essential part of life.”

This is a life-changing time for the world, and McComber is trying to stay strong — for himself and for the other people in his life. In the end, he wants to be someone his four kids can look up to and be supportive for his wife, his employees and his customers.

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Staying in business

McComber’s days are filled with trying to find answers to all his questions and figuring out how to make ends meet. He still has bills to pay, and the anxiety is taking its toll. The question of whether he will stay in business after this crisis is a real one.

“It’s a huge worry of mine,” he said. “This is the scariest time I’ve ever experienced (in business).”

Asked if there is a business model that doesn’t include operating a gym, McComber said he’s still trying to figure it out.

“I really thought the one-on-one idea was going to work out,” he said.

Right now, McComber is looking for ideas to generate revenue for his business and staff, with the ultimate goal of opening the Fitness Revolution doors with “confidence and full capacity” after the crisis.

“There’s an end in sight. I just don’t know when it is,” he said.

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Lake Placid Unites

Two days after closing his business, McComber began searching for ways to lift the spirits of his fellow Placidians.

“I woke up, and my Facebook page was flooded with nothing but politics, the virus and negativity,” he said. “I was looking for a funny post I read the night before I wanted to share with my wife, and it was literally 10 minutes of scrolling and could not find it. And I couldn’t even find anything that was pleasant to read.”

So he created a private Facebook page called Lake Placid Unites, “A place to be positive. A place to get us through this tough time.”

No negativity is tolerated, and no political posts are allowed. No virus talk, either, unless it’s an update that needs to be shared.

As of April 1, there were 734 members.