S.F. order: Many indoor activities to require shots
San Francisco will become the first major city in the country to require proof of full vaccination against the coronavirus for a variety of indoor activities, including visiting bars, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues that serve food or beverages.
Many bars and restaurants around San Francisco have already taken it upon themselves to ask patrons to show their vaccination cards before they enter — a process that has largely gone well. Nearly 80% of the city’s eligible population has been vaccinated, and offi
cials hope the new rule will push holdouts to finally get the shot.
The mandate will take effect Friday, Aug. 20.
“Today’s announcement is really about making sure that people feel a little bit safer in our city,” Mayor London Breed said Thursday at a news conference outside Vesuvio Cafe, one of the first bars in the city to require patrons to show vaccine cards. “We need to do our part. We need to get vaccinated.”
Patrons will not be allowed to substitute a recent negative test for proof of vaccination.
New York City plans to require proof of at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine for indoor activities starting Aug. 16. But San Francisco’s order takes it a step further by requiring customers to be fully vaccinated.
In San Francisco, patrons will have to show they are vaccinated at bars and restaurants only if they plan to eat and drink inside. So someone coming in to pick up a takeout order or a cup of coffee to go will not be required to show a vaccine card. Retailers, grocery stores will also be exempt from the requirement, as are children younger than 12 — who are ineligible to be vaccinated.
While customers will be required to show their vaccine cards by Aug. 20, employees of the establishments will have until Oct. 13 to be vaccinated.
Large indoor events with more than 1,000 people — such as Chase Center, where the Golden State Warriors play — will be included in the vaccine requirement. Vaccine cards will not be required at outdoor venues, such as Oracle Park, but officials strongly urge venues to ask for them.
The health order also extends vaccination requirements to health care providers — such as dentists and pharmacists — who are not included in the state’s vaccination requirements. They will have to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 13.
San Francisco officials have been mulling a requirement for weeks, as the highly infectious delta variant caused a surge in cases and hospitalizations especially in unvaccinated people. But Breed’s office previously said it had some legal and logistical hurdles to work through before making it official.
The city already reimposed an indoor mask mandate this month, in an attempt to curb the spread of the delta variant. Dr. Grant Colfax, director of the city’s Department of Public Health, said Thursday that San Francisco has no current plans to lift the indoor mask mandate.
The vaccine requirement is “simply common sense,” Colfax said. “The vaccines continue to work remarkably well. … They are our way out of this pandemic.”
George Chen, owner of Cold Drinks Bar — where he has already been asking customers to show their vaccine cards — said he is all for the new policy. He said he anticipates running into some challenges at his other restaurant, China Live in Chinatown, where many tourists like to dine.
“Those people may be from places that aren’t as vaccinated. It will be a little more difficult,” he said. But, he added, the mandate will send a message to people outside San Francisco: “Don’t come here unless you’re double vaccinated because you won’t be able to eat out. It’s one way to keep us safe."
Jill Ritchie, owner of Vegan Picnic, had a one-word reaction to the policy: “awesome.”
“It’s a relief because now we’ll all be on the same page,” she said. “And it gives me hope that my business can survive if everyone can get back to work.”
California has been at the forefront of vaccination mandates. This week the state became the nation’s first to require teachers and school staff to be fully vaccinated, or to submit to weekly testing. The order will fully take effect Oct. 15, which is about two months into the school year for some school districts.
Los Angeles is considering a similar move, but is still working out the details. Palm Springs and Cathedral City, both in Riverside County, also recently voted to require proof of vaccination for patrons at indoor venues such as restaurants; it was not immediately clear from news reports whether they require one dose or the full dosage of two-shot vaccinations.
While the move was applauded by many in San Francisco, officials in other Bay Area counties — Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo, Marin, Solano and Napa — said they don’t have plans to issue a similar mandate.
In Pacifica, Helen NasserElddin, co-owner of Pacifica Brewery, worried about the mandate spreading to her city.
She said it would cause “complete chaos” and be a burden on her staff.
“We are completely for safety and vaccinations. Our staff is all vaccinated,” she said. But “don’t put mandates on business owners when it’s an individual responsibility to get vaccinated. It’s not fair for small business owners.”
San Francisco’s mandate comes at a time when many feel on edge and frustrated by the current state of the pandemic, as unvaccinated people drive a dramatic surge in cases. Breed said that the city’s goal is “not to be heavy-handed,” and that city officials will help businesses with any resources and signage they may need to implement the new requirements.
Caleb Zigas, executive director of La Cocina, said the Tenderloin marketplace and food hall was already planning to implement its own vaccine checks Monday — but he’s thankful for the clarity and direction of the citywide rule.
He expects there to be challenges, especially because La Cocina is a community-centric space that doesn’t want anyone to feel unwelcome. As a result, Zigas said, the La Cocina Marketplace is rushing to add some outdoor seating where unvaccinated people can have food brought out to them.
“We understand any frustration with the vaccine mandate, and with the ongoing concerns of COVID-19, but it’s the reality we live in,” he said. “We are all living through a really difficult period. And at least for us, the intent is to do everything we can to acknowledge that hurt and create as safe a space as possible.”