San Francisco’s new rule: Proof of vaccine or no eating in

SAN FRANCISCO – Greg Ryken showed up at his favorite meal in San Francisco on Friday with appetite and vaccination certificate in hand.

A manager at Sam’s Grill and Seafood Restaurant confirmed he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, put him on a list of customers who have met the city’s new requirements for future reference, and led him to his table.

“Easy,” said Ryken when San Francisco became the first major city in the United States to enforce the strictest vaccination mandate for entering restaurants, bars, gyms, and large concerts.

Companies put up signs and hired additional staff to start checking people’s vaccinations and ID cards before they were admitted. Many fitness studios had already checked the vaccination status of their members before the health ordinance came into force.

“We tested the existing systems to see how we would do it, we talked to our customers, prepared our staff and we are very pleased to have the full support of the leadership of our city so that we can confidently step into this new landscape together, ”said Tracey Sylvester, owner of a Pilates studio in the Mission district.

Pete Sittnick, a managing partner of Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants on the city’s waterfront, said he was concerned about slow check-ins, guest resistance to the request, or people showing up without proper documentation. Until now, he said, the crowd had come with vaccination cards in hand and the queue at the door was short.

“The good thing is that if someone doesn’t have their vaccination certificate, they can still eat outside. There is an option and we just have to be prepared for different scenarios, ”he said.

Mayor London Breed announced the request more than a week ago to contain the rising COVID-19 cases and said she was concerned that the highly contagious Delta variant could disrupt the city’s economic recovery. She also hopes it will encourage vaccine holdouts to join the 79% of the population who got their vaccinations.

“This is not a penalty,” said Breed on Friday. “It’s really about a chance to move in the right direction and keep people safe.”

The mandate goes further than New York City, which requires at least partial vaccination for a variety of high-risk indoor activities, and New Orleans, which requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test for eating or drinking indoors. All three cities make exceptions for people who do not qualify for the vaccine, including children under the age of 12.

It follows a string of tough security measures that San Francisco has put in place since the pandemic began. The city and its neighboring Bay Area counties were the first in the US to issue a home stay order and were the first major city in the country to require all city employees to be vaccinated without the option of regular testing perform. .

This week the city sent letters telling 20 police, fire and sheriff departments who refused to revise their vaccination status by the deadline of Jan.

Governor Gavin Newsom also tightened the rules after announcing the reopening of California’s economy in June. He required health care workers to get vaccinated to keep their jobs and all teachers and government employees to either vaccinate or have weekly tests.

Local business groups have endorsed the new vaccination mandate, stating that it protects the health of their employees and customers and prevents them from limiting indoor capacity. Some companies that made it their business to look at the door for proof of vaccination said a citywide policy will help set clear expectations for all customers.

Jody McCord said the mandate forced her to cancel plans to meet Wisconsin relatives at her favorite restaurants because not everyone in her group is fully vaccinated. They had to take their reunion across San Francisco Bay to a restaurant in Sausalito.

“It puts people between a rock and a tough place,” said McCord.

Online ordering and reservation systems such as OpenTable help companies by giving customers early warning of the mandate. The city’s hospitality industry has launched a “Relax, We’re Getting Annoyed” campaign to bring this to the attention of travelers.

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 digital vaccine ID would be sufficient. Vaccination certificates from foreign governments are also permitted.

Pearce Cleaveland, co-owner of Temple nightclub, said his security guards had been trained to check all kinds of vaccination records and they had caught some people with fake vaccination cards.

“We’ve had people upset at the door when they’ve been turned away, but generally they understand,” he said.

Workers have until October 13 to demonstrate that they are fully vaccinated, and Cleaveland said he expects to comply by then.

After a sharp spike in coronavirus cases and hospital stays in the Bay Area over the summer, numbers appear to be flattening out but remain high, said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

He said the reintroduced restrictions had helped slow the spread.

“There is no such thing as a magic ball, just a combination of a hard stick and a soft stick,” he said. “The vaccination card is a soft stick because you can still eat outside, but if you want to hang out with people inside, you’d better get vaccinated.”