Bild: Keystone/EPA/Peter Foley
In New York, it should no longer be possible to go to a restaurant in the future without a corona vaccination certificate. Opinions about the scheme are divided. Restaurateurs could complain.
Michael Musto can not yet bring himself to ask his regular guests for a corona vaccination certificate. If the city of New York actually makes the corresponding requirements, he will close the interior of his “Cargo Cafe” restaurant and move operations outside, the restaurateur announced. “I can’t imagine asking for proof,” says Musto. “But now should I have to turn my customers away?”
Because that is exactly what the city’s plans provide: operators of restaurants, bars, fitness studios and many other facilities should only be allowed to enter guests with a vaccination certificate in the future. The employees should also have to prove that they have received one of the approved vaccines at least once, as Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday. In Musto’s neighborhood on Staten Island, only just under half of the residents are fully vaccinated, according to statistics. Despite a new surge in infections in New York, some remain skeptical.
Other cities are closely following the development – whether as a model or as a possible example of the overregulation of public life by the authorities. “We won’t reach our goal without vaccinations,” said the Democrat de Blasio. “It’s pretty easy. You check the vaccination status. Who has it, great. If you don’t, you have to turn back. “
Fines up to $ 1,000
According to the city, the details of the planned regulation are currently still being worked out, including the enforcement and consequences for companies that do not adhere to the requirements. There should be controls from September 13th at the earliest. When New York imposed a mask requirement, violations against it were punished with fines of up to 1000 dollars (almost 850 euros).
Entrepreneurs could challenge the action in court and claim that the city is overstepping its authority or applying the regulation unfairly. For example, some religious groups had successfully countered state pandemic regulations that limited the number of people attending a church service but not those of customers in liquor stores or bike shops.
In the case of vaccination records, the city would have a good chance of getting through, according to law professor Scott Burris. The requirement is comparable to the regulation not to let guests with bare chests or without shoes in a restaurant. The vaccination certificate will then only be added to the list of requirements that are necessary for hospitality.
Compulsory vaccination through the back door?
New York City does not force its residents to get vaccinated against Covid-19. However, by excluding unvaccinated people from some parts of public life, the authorities are trying to persuade people to immunize. Most children have to prove vaccinations against certain childhood diseases in order to be admitted to state schools. The theaters on Broadway already require all visitors, employees and ensemble members to have a corona vaccination pass.
“We won’t see vaccination trucks on Fifth Avenue with people queuing,” predicts lawyer Burris of Temple University. «There will be no government regulation for compulsory vaccination. It will be delegated to employers and restaurants and sports studios and so on. “
The economy in New York is now largely open again. Bars and restaurants welcome their guests inside again. Tourists like Vasu Pabbaraju from California enjoy eating in a branch of the Olive Garden restaurant chain near Times Square. If someone asks him about his vaccination certificate, he would willingly show it, says Pabbaraju: “It wouldn’t bother me. It would rather relax me to know that the other guests in the restaurant have been vaccinated. “
“If that happens, I might have to shut down”
Connecticut visitor Mitch Silver disagrees. “I don’t like the idea,” he says. “I don’t think the government should dictate that.” However, concerns about the corona virus continue. On Wednesday, the organizers canceled the New York Auto Show because of the increasing popularity of the Delta variant.
Gastronom Musto definitely wants to stick to possible new editions. He hopes that these will help convince more New Yorkers to vaccinate, he says: “Maybe it’s a kind of deterrent tactic. Hopefully it works. “
The restaurant owner, who claims to have been vaccinated as well as his employees, took over the “Cargo Cafe” just a few months before the pandemic shutdown last year. “I can’t afford to have to close everything again,” he says. “If that happens, I may have to shut down for good.”
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