Vaccine ID needed to enter businesses in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco became the first major city in the nation to require proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 on Friday for people dining inside restaurants, working out in gyms or attending indoor concerts.
Restaurants and bars posted signs and added extra staff to begin verifying proof of vaccination before allowing people in.
“There’s definitely some anxiety around how it’s all going to work,” said Pete Sittnick, a managing partner of Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants on the city’s waterfront.
He anticipates a slowdown in checking in diners, possible pushback from guests who disagree with the requirement and awkward scenarios where someone shows up without proper documentation.
“The good thing is, if somebody doesn’t have their verification of vaccination they can still eat outside. There is an option and we just need to be ready for different scenarios,” he said.
Mayor London Breed announced the requirement more than a week ago in an attempt to stem rising COVID-19 cases, saying she was worried the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus could disrupt the city’s economic rebound.
The mandate goes further than New York City, which requires people to be at least partially inoculated for a variety of high-risk indoor activities, and New Orleans, which requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for indoor dining or drinking.
It follows a number of tough COVID-19 measures San Francisco imposed since the beginning of the pandemic. The city and its neighboring counties in the Bay Area were the first in the nation to order residents to stay at home in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and was the first big city in the nation to require all city employees to be vaccinated, without the option of testing regularly.
The majority of 36,000 city workers said they are vaccinated, but about 4,300 have not. This week, the city sent letters recommending a 10-day suspension without pay for 20 employees in police, fire and sheriff ’s departments who refused to report their vaccination status by the Aug. 12 deadline, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has also had to tighten the rules after announcing the reopening of California’s economy in June. He has required the state’s health care workers to get vaccinated to keep their jobs and all teachers and state workers to either get vaccinated or submit to weekly testing.
Local business groups have supported the new vaccine mandate, saying it will protect their employees’ and customers’ health and keep them from having to limit capacity indoors.
Some businesses that had taken it upon themselves to check for proof of vaccination at the door said a citywide policy helps set clear expectations for all customers.
City officials said a paper card issued by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a photo of the CDC card, or a verified digital vaccine record will suffice.