Vaccine proof required as strict mandate starts
LOS ANGELES — People entering a wide variety of businesses in the city of Los Angeles had to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination starting Monday as one of the country’s strictest measures aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus took effect.
The new rule covers businesses ranging from restaurants to shopping malls and theaters to nail and hair salons. Business trade groups say the mandate will sow confusion and could present safety concerns for employees tasked with checking customers’ vaccination status.
The new rules caused little disruption at Blue Bottle Coffee in the city’s Los Feliz neighborhood, where a sign on the front door reminded patrons to show proof of vaccination for permission to eat indoors.
Manager Matthew Cadena said the morning rush was mostly smooth as customers handed over their vaccine cards or showed photos of the cards on their cellphones. Some patrons had images of their vaccine cards on their phones’ home screens.
“Most people are accommodating and understanding,” Cadena said.
The mandate was anticipated at Body Builders Gym in the Silverlake neighborhood, where employees for months have logged the vaccination status of patrons in an internal system so that proof is already verified the next time members come to the gym.
Manfred Del Cid, the gym’s assistant general manager, said many patrons volunteered to show their proof before the mandate started.
“It seems like our demographic wants to know they’re safe,” he said.
Los Angeles is among a growing number of cities across the U.S., including San Francisco and New York City, requiring people show proof of vaccination to enter businesses and venues.
But rules in the nation’s second-most-populous city, called Safepassla, apply to more types of businesses and other indoor locations including museums and convention centers.
Hundreds of people opposed to vaccination mandates for Los Angeles city and county workers rallied in a downtown park Monday. The “March for Freedom” was organized by a firefighter group that claims such mandates are unconstitutional.
The proof-of-vaccination regulations went into force as new infection cases have inched up in California, following a sharp decline from an August peak driven by the delta variant.
November was the time of year in 2020 when the worst spike of the pandemic was just beginning in California. By January of this year, 500 people were dying every day in the state.
Los Angeles became the state’s infection epicenter and its hospitals were so overloaded with patients that ambulances idled outside with people struggling to breathe, waiting for beds to open up.