Vaccination will soon be required to participate in NYC's indoor activities
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Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new vaccine protocol for businesses Tuesday. Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.
By Rachel Vick
Restaurants, gyms and performance spaces will now have to check patrons’ vaccination status before granting indoor entry, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.
Under the “Key to NYC Pass” approach, Queens businesses with indoor activities will have to limit entry to vaccinated patrons. The requirement will go into effect on Aug. 16, with a grace period until Sept. 13.
“It's time for people to see vaccination as literally necessary to living a good and full and healthy life,” de Blasio said during Tuesday’s briefing.
“If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” he added. “It’s time. The only way to patronize these establishments is if you are vaccinated, at least one dose.”
Staff members at indoor dining, fitness, entertainment and performance spaces will also need at least one dose to continue working.
An Executive Order and health commissioner order are currently in the works to codify the announcement.
De Blasio said they have been working with businesses ahead of the announcement and taking feedback before finalizing policy the week of Aug. 16 “to give businesses big and small a chance to get acclimated.”
Queens Chamber of Commerce CEO Thomas Grach told the Eagle that he sees the mandate as “somewhat of a necessary evil.”
“We have redoubled our efforts to do outreach and to assist in getting the word out from a variety of different ways to get people vaccinated,” he said. “Although I'm worried about enforcement, and I'm worried about businesses bearing the brunt of the costs.”
The only obvious solution Grech sees to both mitigate the impact on local businesses and protect public health is improving vaccination rates.
“With the tens of millions of dollars spent, the outreach by the city, by the state, unless you're living under a rock, the information is out there,” he said. “And it's incumbent upon our citizens to step up, look at the science and get vaccinated.
There are three zip codes in Queens that have less than a 40 percent vaccination vaccination rate, according to city data.
State Sen. James Sanders Jr. joined de Blasio’s briefing to share his insight as a representative for Far Rockaway, which has the lowest rate of vaccination in the city. Only 38 percent have one dose, and only 34 percent are fully vaccinated, according to city data.
The district also saw higher than average fatalities.
“There is a madness afoot here, sir, and only government can make a difference,” Sanders said “Unless you can come up with a better way to save my neighbors… support the mayor.”
“To all of the skeptics — I can introduce you to the people who were responsible for loading the bodies out,” he added. “We are dealing with a life threatening crisis of no small magnitude. This is not a theoretical conversation.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. also spoke in support of the decision, calling it a “sound and reasonable measure.”
“The dangerous and highly contagious Delta variant poses a significant threat to the lives of our residents, so it is important to take swift and decisive action to limit its spread as much as possible,” Richards told the Eagle. “Given the stakes involved, we need to take every reasonable precaution that will help keep us safe.”
