BY BEN BRACHFELD
New York City will begin
requiring proof of vaccination
to access a wide-ranging
set of indoor activities,
such as restaurant dining,
drinking at a bar, exercising
at a gym, or seeing a live
performance, Mayor Bill de
Blasio announced Tuesday,
Aug. 2.
“If you want to participate
in our society fully,
you’ve got to get vaccinated,”
the mayor said at his daily
press briefing. “It’s time.”
New York is the first major
city in the country to
adopt such a move, which
the mayor is calling the
“Key to NYC Pass.” It comes
as the Delta variant upends
the progress the city has
made in fighting the coronavirus.
Countries such as France
and Italy have already adopted
COURIER L 12 IFE, AUGUST 6-12, 2021
the measure; on the
first day after French President
Emmanuel Macron
announced the mandate,
millions of people booked
appointments.
The new policy will
launch on Aug. 16, but won’t
be enforced until Sept. 13
so businesses can get acclimated
and the city can
make adjustments based on
feedback.
Those wishing to visit
indoor establishments like
restaurants, bars, gyms, or
performance venues will
be required to show either
their CDC vaccination card,
the new NYC COVID Safe
app, or the Excelsior Pass
app.
“It is very simple, I carry
my wallet with me and I
pull out my card,” said Congressman
Adriano Espaillat
at the mayor’s briefing. “It’s
as simple as that.”
The mayor has been moving
in the direction of mandates
in recent weeks, starting
last week with a mandate
for health care workers and
then for all city workers.
The city is still using some
incentives though, such as
an offer of $100 for anyone
who gets their first dose at a
city-run vaccination site.
Nonetheless, the mayor
has faced criticism for inaction
on implementing
a mask mandate even as
Delta, which is far more contagious
than the original
coronavirus, rages throughout
the city.
Manhattan Councilmember
Mark Levine, who has
been calling for a new mask
mandate for weeks, said that
new policy is what’s needed
to rapidly take action to prevent
a worse outcome over
People enjoy indoor dining as the spread of COVID-19 continues in New
York City. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
time.
“We have to act to protect
this city,” Levine said.
“And we’ve learned over the
past year and a half that our
choice is to act now, or to
face more difficult options
down the road.”
City to mandate proof
of vaccination for indoor
dining, fi tness, and more
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