Anyone wanting to visit a New York bar or restaurant, go to the gym or watch a film at the cinema will have to prove they have had a Covid-19 vaccination.
The city yesterday became the biggest in the US to order that people visiting an indoor business must show that they have had a jab.
The order requires proof of at least one dose and will be enforced from September 13. Like past policies over masks and stay-at-home orders, the plan is expected to meet resistance.
About 66 per cent of all New Yorkers are fully vaccinated, according to city data. In largely poor communities the vaccination rate is a lot lower, however. Nationwide, 70 per cent of adults have had one jab.
“If you want to participate in our society fully, you’ve got to get vaccinated,” Bill de Blasio, New York’s mayor, told a news conference. “It’s time. This is going to be a requirement. The only way to patronise these establishments is if you are vaccinated, at least one dose. The same for folks in terms of work, they will need at least one dose,” he said, holding up a single finger. “We know this is what’s going to turn the tide.”
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To enter indoor venues, people will be required to use a new app on which they can upload their vaccination details or show a paper card that proves they have had a jab.
There has been a surge in cases of the Delta variant across the country. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the top US public health body, has ordered that where there are a high number of Delta cases, even fully vaccinated people should resume wearing masks indoors. It has not made an order concerning vaccines.
Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York state, urged bars, restaurants and other private businesses this week to let in only vaccinated customers.
De Blasio stopped short of mandating face coverings in public indoor settings, saying instead that it was strongly recommended. In cities such as Los Angeles and Washington, local officials have ordered a resumption of indoor mask wearing.
There has been strong opposition to the CDC’s masks order and in some states such as Florida officials have overridden new mask mandates.
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Despite the backlash, and perhaps because the Delta variant is spreading so rapidly, a majority of Americans back the renewed mask requirements, according to a poll. A survey by Monmouth University in New Jersey found that 52 per cent of Americans backed the new rules on masks, with 46 per cent opposed.
As with so many of the Covid rules, there are clear divisions on political lines, with 85 per cent of Democrats supporting a return to mask wearing and 73 per cent of Republicans opposed.
States have adopted different tactics to help combat the Delta variant. Jim Justice, 70, the governor of West Virginia, has introduced the country’s first statewide programme to test and measure antibody levels among vaccinated individuals.
Introducing what he called the Booster Battlefield Assessment programme, Justice said: “In my stomach, I believe and I feel that the enemy is coming — and that enemy is this Delta variant. We’ve got to do something, and we’ve got to do something really fast.”
