Incoming New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said in a press conference on Thursday that he will keep outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio’s (D) city-wide vaccine mandates in place when he is sworn into office.
“We are going to keep that in place,” Adams told reporters when he was asked about the vaccine mandates. “We spoke with our business leaders today to let them know we are going to keep that in place.”
In the press conference, Adams discussed his plan to combat the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. He emphasized that “vaccine and testing” is the “clear message we must get out” and that he wants to make more investments in the city’s healthcare infrastructure. Adams then stated in the press conference that he will also keep de Blasio’s vaccine mandates in place.
“This virus is ever moving,” Adams continued. “As we continue to look at the evolution of this virus, there will be moments when we can change some of the mandates.”
New York City currently has vaccine mandates in place that require individuals to have proof of vaccination to enter public indoor establishments, such as restaurants, gyms, bars, nightclubs, movie theaters, concert venues, museums, sports arenas, and so forth. People 18 and older are required to show their identification along with their vaccine card, part of a system called the “Key to NYC Pass.”
“I would love to get to the day when we won't have children wearing masks in schools, when we won't have families needing to sit in a restaurant or visit other locations with the vaccine cards. We're going to make those adjustments based on what the science tells us when we can remove some of the mandates. And there may come a time if a new variant comes where we have to increase mandates. And so right now we're going to maintain what was put in place for the business community,” Adams said in the press conference.
One controversial mandate that Adams will keep in place is New York City’s private employer vaccine mandate. The city’s webpage detailing the mandate states that “businesses may not allow any unvaccinated workers to come to their workplace. A workplace is considered any location – including a vehicle – where you work in the presence of at least one other person.”
In the press conference, it was emphasized that the private sector vaccine mandate will “focus on compliance, not punishment,” going forward.
This month, I covered how Mary Josephine Generoso, a New York City restaurant manager, came forward against de Blasio’s vaccine mandates, describing them as “ridiculous” and “infringing on our liberties.” In her interview on Fox, she discussed how the city is considering implementing a booster shot mandate on top of the already-existing vaccine mandate.
“The mayor’s asking store owners, business owners, restaurant owners, to start policing people as they come into a restaurant to sit down,” Generoso told Fox News. “We have basically, mostly female employees working with us. Some of them are very young. Initially, I was just worried about them having to check vaccine mandate passports and whatnot when they were walking in. And now we have to make sure that they’ve had a booster shot? I think it’s absolutely, absolutely ridiculous.”
Generoso told local outlet WRIC in August that her business would not turn down unvaccinated patrons. In the restaurant’s window, she hung a sign stating “We do not discriminate against ANY customer based on sex, gender, race, creed, age, vaccinated or unvaccinated. All customers who wish to patronize are welcome in our establishment.”
“It’s not about the fines, it’s not about somebody coming down on us. It’s really about protecting people’s civil liberties. It’s allowing people to come in and enjoy what NewYork has to offer – which is restaurants,” Generoso concluded. “It’s not up to us to be the vaccination police.”