Got vaccine proof? S.F. implements mandate
Many locals, tourists ready with vaccine cards, ‘like tickets at a concert’
SAN FRANCISCO >> At Pier 39, Travis Garza was turned away from an indoor table at Fog Harbor Fish House on Friday after he left his Missouri-issued vaccine card at his new apartment in Sunnyvale.
His buddy, 25-year-old Ryan LaPeyre, texted his mom in St. Louis asking her to rummage through his bedroom to find his. In Chinatown, a party of eight was turned away from the R & G Lounge when they couldn’t produce their cards and another customer, annoyed at bumbling through her phone for a copy of hers, proclaimed it “a lot of trouble.”
On the day that San Francisco became the first major U.S. city to require proof of full
COVID-19 vaccination to enter indoor restaurants, bars, gyms, theaters and other entertainment venues, locals and tourists across the city scrambled to comply.
But for the most part, even at the bustling Pier 39 that’s filled with out-of-towners lining up for clam chowder in sourdough bowls, people Friday were prepared.
“I’m blown away,” said Bob Partrite, chief operating officer of Simco, which operates five restaurants at Pier 39. “Their cards are out and ready to go, like tickets at a concert.”
As the City by the Bay rolls out the country’s strictest mandate yet in an attempt to thwart COVID-19’s surging delta variant that has hospitalized thousands of unvaccinated people across the country, the question looms: Is San Francisco today where the rest of us are heading tomorrow?
New York City has already instituted vaccine passport rules, but requires only one vaccine dose for indoor dining. The San Jose City Council next Tuesday will consider requiring vaccine proof at SAP Center, the convention center and other cityowned venues. And the state of California on Wednesday an
nounced a new rule requiring either proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test to go to an indoor event with 1,000 people or more.
Bobby Puchner from Atlanta, who showed his vaccine card at Chinatown Restaurant on Friday, stated the obvious: “If this was the case in Georgia, this would not fly.”
But in the liberal bastion of San Francisco, which boasts a 78% vaccination rate and a recent significant drop in delta-driven COVID-19 cases, most people appeared Friday to be willing to prove their vaccination bona fides.
Outside the iconic Buena Vista near Ghirardelli Square Friday, tourists and locals whipped out paper vaccine records. The restaurant known for its Irish coffee also has a QR code posted to the door so people who don’t have theirs can download a digital copy. The restaurant has been requiring proof of vaccines at the door for about a month, said general manager Larry Silva.
The requirement has made more people feel comfortable eating inside, he said, which has been good for business. “A very small number” have gotten upset, he said, but the unvaccinated can still sip coffee or eat a meal in the outdoor dining area.
Mark Poniatowski, entertaining his Michigan relatives at the Buena Vista on Friday, said he’s hoping “the whole country goes this way.”
At Moby Dick, a bar in the Castro district that has required proof of vaccination since July 28, bartender Marty Orton says customers understand they don’t get a drink without it.
“Ninety-nine percent of the people are right on board with it,” Orton said. But he did have a conflict with a customer, who said she didn’t have a phone or a vaccine card. “There was a crazy lady the other day, she just started screaming. There’s always one in the bunch.”
At Live Fit Gym at the Fairmont Hotel, the new mandate has been well received, said manager Alex Macias. He did freeze one membership, however, when the client acknowledged he wasn’t vaccinated — and wouldn’t be back.
For the most part, though, belligerence was difficult to find Friday.
At Cafe de Casa in the Castro district, manager Caio Cardoso had one customer Friday morning who did not want to show a proof of vaccination and willingly sat outdoors. “So far it’s going OK,” Cardoso said. “It’s just an extra step that we can ask. It takes a little more energy, but it’s OK.”
But one customer there, who was annoyed at having to search through her phone and didn’t want to give her name, considered the mandate “a bit ridiculous, personally. We’re inconveniencing people for little benefit. I don’t think this is going to convince anyone to get vaccinated who hasn’t already.”
At Frankie’s Java House on the Embarcadero, Wes Siler, his wife and in-laws from Montana and Texas were eager to show their vaccine cards. They were in town for a wedding and the bride had given them a heads-up to have their cards ready — she’s also requiring her wedding guests to be vaccinated. But when the family asked the server if the Java House wanted proof, she just took their word for it and waved them in — a hiccup in the early hours of the official order.
Still, Siler said, “It’s reassuring and we feel safe coming to a place where vaccinations are required. We all come from places with Republican governors that don’t care about science.”
Nearby at Red’s Java House, cashier Claudia Villalobos wasn’t even bothering to check cards. Instead, the restaurant simply closed the indoor tables — a throwback to the height of the pandemic when indoor dining was shuttered — and directed everyone outdoors for patio dining where proof isn’t required. The employees simply don’t have time to verify each person who comes through the door, she said.
“Sometimes there are a lot of crowds coming in and we have big lines,” she said. “We’re fast food and take orders right away.”
Back at Pier 39, Garza, who left his vaccine card in Sunnyvale, was directed to an outdoor table. He tried to find a digital proof of vaccination on his phone from the Missouri health department — like California offers its residents — but it didn’t come up.
“We’re a little bit behind the curve,” Garza, who is starting his new California job on Monday, said of the Midwest state. “That’s why I moved here.”