NEW YORK Mayor Eric Adams’ decision to deny vaccine mandates has been welcomed by restaurant and bar owners – but the move is “long overdue” and “too late” for many who may still be forced to close their doors due to a lack of customers .
Restaurant owners such as Robert Mahon, who runs Toro Loco, Amor Loco and Broadstone in Manhattan, told DailyMail.com that the removal of the mandate was long overdue.
“It’s too late for many of us. Local government in New York has destroyed thousands of businesses so far, and unfortunately many restaurants in non-resident areas are still suffering,” he said.
“There will be more bars and restaurants that will close in the next few months, regardless of the abolition of the vaccine mandate. Until the offices return to full capacity, the prospects for many are bleak.
Over the past two weeks, Adams has stressed the need for employees to return to offices after a survey showed that only 28 percent go to work every day. He said the move was crucial to the city’s culture and economy as covid-19 cases and hospitalizations stabilized from the peak in early January.
“For our economic and financial ecosystem to function, we need to have human interaction,” Adams said Wednesday.
But until that happens, the bleak prospect is shared by other companies in the city, including Joey Hayes, manager of the Short Stories bar in East Village, who told DailyMail.com that the mandate was difficult and polarizing.
“It was a little difficult in New York because we were disgraced for those terms. Instead of customers being grateful for protecting them and public health, they asked why we were doing this,” she said.
“They asked why we were erecting walls and borders, but all we were doing was trying to protect our business from shutdown.”
Businesses in New York have welcomed what some say is the “long-standing” repeal of the city’s vaccination proof requirement (Katz’s Deli employee checks proof of vaccination from customers who will eat at the restaurant in August 2021)
Customers at Katz’s Deli – a tourist hotspot – check their proof of vaccination at the door. Mayor Adams announced Sunday that proof of vaccination will no longer be required for indoor eating, fitness and entertainment from March 7, as long as COVID indicators do not deteriorate.
A sign at Clinton Hall tells visitors to show proof of vaccination. Restaurant owners say two years of criminal lockouts have already forced thousands of restaurants to close – and fear they will close their doors more as workers continue to work from home
Mayor Adams announced Sunday that from March 7, proof of vaccination will no longer be required for indoor dining, fitness and entertainment, as long as COVID’s performance does not deteriorate. He is due to make a final decision to revoke his term on Friday.
Other major cities – including Chicago – have already taken steps to lift their vaccination proof requirements, as key data revealed that the worst of Omicron’s surge is behind us. COVID cases in the U.S. reached a low point, with the nation registering only 7,464 new infections on Sunday.
The move to lift the restrictions comes after several Restaurants in New York city decided not to impose the vaccine mandates, and thousands were forced to close for good after two years of punishing lockouts.
In August 2021, a group of Staten Island restaurants and other businesses sued then-Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city for the mandate, calling it “arbitrary, irrational, unscientific and illegal.”
“These restrictions have done severe and irreparable damage to small businesses across the city,” the lawsuit says.
The mandates have also caused turmoil among customers. In September, a housewife at the famous Carmine’s restaurant was attacked by three women from Texas who were part of a group where some were denied entry because they showed no proof of their vaccine.
The women, who were later charged, claimed the Asian housewife called them a racial insult – a claim the hostess denied.
The mandates have also caused turmoil among customers. In September, a housewife at the famous Carmine’s restaurant was attacked by three women in Texas who were part of a group where some were denied entry because they showed no proof of their vaccine
Following Adams’ announcement to lift the restrictions, Short Stories manager Joey Hayes told DailyMail.com that checking for proof of vaccination was a “very invasive” process.
“The need to ask questions about customer requirements as soon as they got into a pub was difficult,” she explained. ‘You want to give customers a beautiful experience by asking for proof of vaccination, creating a playing field that wasn’t great and removing this requirement will help the customer experience.
‘It was originally designed to protect everyone, but I think now we can go back to the way we’ve experienced customer service and hospitality before.’
The restaurant and bar manager also explained how pandemic restrictions had negatively affected the business, noting that the proof of a vaccination requirement was initially met with reluctance.
“A lot of people in New York have already been vaccinated, so it wasn’t a fight specifically for us, but it absolutely affected business,” Hayes said, noting that during her travels she found that many other states don’t run vaccine checks.
“At first we saw a big impact, especially when there was a reluctance to get vaccinated. There was a reluctance to be among the people in general. It took until July, when we saw a pickup truck in the business, and August we saw that people were starting to arrive in a more ordinary volume. Now we go back to the numbers we’ve seen in previous years.
She added: “We’ve worked with flu and a cold and all these things in the past and it has to happen again.”
Hayes also noted that her establishment has adapted to all kinds of COVID restrictions, and if “the time comes” when they have to perform vaccination checks again, they will.
Similarly, NYC Hospitality Alliance Chairman Andrew Riggi reiterated the importance of officials continuing to be “smart and safe and change mandates as COVID risks decrease.”
“So removing proof of vaccination for indoor dining in New York city will be welcome news for many restaurants and bars, although I wouldn’t be surprised if some businesses want to voluntarily keep it in place,” Riggy tweeted Sunday night.
The National Federation of Independent Business, in a statement released to DailyMail.com on Monday, said: “This is welcome news for small businesses in New York, which has suffered huge losses for nearly two years and endured relentless economic challenges while managing ever-changing, universal public health mandates.
“With new York’s high unemployment rate and small businesses facing record numbers of vacancies, removing barriers to employment is necessary and extremely important. It is time to return to some semblance of normality and focus on restoring the fragile small businesses in the city.
Announcing the repeal of the city’s mandates, Adams tweeted: “We fought a long, tough battle. And we win it because of the toughness and determination of every day New Yorkers like you.
Adams said the city will loosen its restrictions while Covid data continues to move in the right direction, but some have criticized his decision to remove indoor vaccine requirements.
Mayor Adams announced his push to end the mandate to prove vaccination over the weekend after New York Governor Kathy Hotchul announced that the state would repeal its mandates for masks.
“I want to thank the millions of New Yorkers who disguised themselves and helped us reach unprecedented vaccination rates,” Adams tweeted Sunday. “We fought a long, hard battle. And we win it because of the toughness and determination of every day New Yorkers like you.
The mandate for indoor masks for schools will also be abolished on the same day, provided there are no unexpected spikes in the virus.
“The numbers in New York continue to decline day by day, so while COVID indicators show a low level of risk and we see no surprises this week, on Monday, March 7, we will also eliminate Key2NYC’s requirements,” Adams said.
‘This will give business owners time to adapt and allow us to ensure we make the best public health decisions for the people of New York.’
Ahead of Sunday’s announcement, Adams indicated he wanted to lift COVID restrictions and help businesses get back to normal before the pandemic.
“We can’t close again, and I’m not going to do anything in my anticipation to come back that will jeopardize the city’s closure again,” Adams said during a news conference last Wednesday.
“Our economy cannot cope. We don’t have another $11 billion to get back into the economy. We have to do it in an intelligent way.
The mayor also said he meets daily with health experts who provide structure and metrics that the city must implement before abandoning restrictions on coronavirus.
COVID cases in the US reached a low point, with the nation registering just 7,464 new infections on Sunday
The average daily number of cases in the country has fallen to 66,337 a day, a drop of 34 percent over the past week and a whopping 91 percent drop from the record of 800,000 cases a day reached in mid-January.
The Big Apple was one of the heaviest places in the world from the Omicron variant leading up to Christmas and into the new year.
Cases jumped more than ten-fold in a few weeks, from about 3,000 a day to 40,000 a day in early January.
Daily figures of those infected began to fall afterwards, dropping to about 5,000 cases a day by the end of January.
A similar trend has been observed in much of America, where massive settlement centers were hit hard and early by the highly contagious variant before cases declined rapidly after the peak.
On Sunday, the U.S. recorded only 7,464 new infections on Sunday.
While Sunday is always a day when the U.S. registers fewer infections than others – many local health departments are closed during the day – this is the first time fewer than 10,000 cases have been recorded in one day since July 11 last year. The previous “small” Sunday amounts so far this year were over 70,000.
The average daily number of cases in the country has fallen to 66,337 a day, a drop of 34 percent over the past week and an incredible 91 percent drop from the record of 800,000 cases a day reached in mid-January.