New York City to Mandate Proof of Vaccination to Enter Indoor Businesses

 

New York City is going to mandate proof of vaccination for people to enter certain indoor businesses.

The businesses being targeted will include restaurants, entertainment venues and gyms.

Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce what is essentially a city-wide vaccine passport on Tuesday, according to a report from the New York Post.

The Post reports, “the initiative, to be dubbed the ‘Key to NYC Pass,’ marks a significant escalation of the city’s efforts to curb the recent uptick in COVID-19 cases driven by the Delta variant, and will launch in mid-August and enforcement will begin in September following a public service announcement campaign, administration officials said.”

“The program is modeled after the vaccine passport programs rolled out in France and other European countries, according to de Blasio administration officials,” the report continued.

In order to go out to eat, people in the city will be required to show either the state’ “Excelsior Pass,” the city’s new vaccine pass or Center for Disease Control’s paper vaccine card, officials told The Post.

There will not be an option for people to take a COVID test as a substitute.

The unvaccinated will be allowed to eat outdoors only.

“We’ve got to shake people at this point and say, ‘Come on now.’ We tried voluntary. We could not have been more kind and compassionate. Free testing, everywhere you turn, incentives, friendly, warm embrace. The voluntary phase is over,” de Blasio said on MSNBC last week. “It’s time for mandates, because it’s the only way to protect our people.”