New York City mayor Bill De Blasio announces

proof of Vaccine for indoor dining, games and
entertainments

New York City Mandating COVID-19 Vaccination for Restaurants, Gyms, and entertainments 

By Edward Era Barbacena

New York City will soon require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for indoor activities, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday, making it the first big city in the U.S. to impose such restrictions.

New York will become the first American city to adopt proof of COVID-19 vaccination for a variety of activities for workers and customers such as indoor dining, gyms, and performances,

“It’s time for people to see vaccination as necessary to living a good and full and healthy life,” de Blasio, a Democrat, said during a news briefing.

In elaborating, he said, “It will require vaccination for workers and customers in indoor dining, in indoor fitness facilities, indoor entertainment facilities.”

“The only way to patronize these businesses indoors is if you’re vaccinated,” de Blasio said. “If you want to participate in society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated.”

The new requirement, which will go into effect Aug. 16, applies to indoor dining, gyms and indoor entertainment venues.

De Blasio has focused on getting as many New Yorkers vaccinated as possible while resisting calls to mandate masks indoors, as several cities and counties in California have done.

De Blasio said Monday he was making “a strong recommendation” that everyone wear a mask in public indoor settings but stressed that the city’s “overwhelming strategic thrust” remained getting more people vaccinated.

The mayor announced last week that city employees would be required to get vaccinated by mid-September or to face weekly testing, and he has offered a $100 incentive for city residents who get inoculated.

About 66% of adults in New York City are fully vaccinated, according to official data.

On Monday, the U.S. reached President Joe Biden’s goal of getting at least one COVID-19 shot into 70% of American adults — a month late and amid a surge by the delta variant that is overwhelming hospitals and prompting renewed pandemic regulations around the country.