NYC Will Require Proof of Vaccination for restaurants & gyms

I declined to answer at my work as well because they told us that once you provide proof that you are vaccinated you no longer have to wear a mask AND you are no longer contacted as a part of contact tracing for exposure. I am also around high risk folks and young kids who can’t be vaccinated. I’m going to wear a mask anyway but I want to be notified if I was exposed therefore I declined to answer. I certainly hope I’m not getting rage from folks because I want to be in control of what I expose my family to?

I am fine with individual businesses and institutions deciding that the will require proof of vaccination for workers and employees. I hope that many do. Mandating will probably be a wasted effort, since people seem likely to forge proof.

I am really supportive of insurance companies taking vaccination status into account for premium amounts.

Mandating may give air cover to businesses who would have liked to require vaccines anyway, but did not want to get blowback/potential violence from the far right.

I am not afraid. That is not a word I would use. I am cautious with my information. I don't just randomly hand out my medical information to everyone who asks. Retaliation is very much alive through this pandemic both in professional ways and personal ways. If you are asking me to provide private medical information then you best be prepared to answer my questions and assure me that the information will be kept confidential. That is about as far as I am willing to explain on a public forum at this time. My experience though this pandemic has led me to be very cautious with my medical information, more so than I was prior to.

I wanted to quote this above but messed up. I signed up for my county's notification system. They reported where the covid infections were being found and I will say that Gyms were not top of the list. Granted a lot of them were closed unless they could figure out how to do things outside, but when they opened (several times here) I watched the numbers and where the cases were stemming from per the county and it was not Gyms. It was bars and restaurants sure, but the biggest were large corporations, warehouses etc. Places where there were a lot of people indoors, confined, with no limited capacity. There were more than a few churches as well. Occasionally a daycare or adult daycare would pop up. That said, this was in MY county. I cannot speak for other counties or specific cities.

I guess we have learned different lessons about trust during all this. What I’ve learned is that I can’t trust about half of our fellow Americans to consider anything other than their own selfish interest in making personal and political choices. I also can’t trust them to make a good faith effort to seek out valid information in making those choices, rather than giving in to confirmation bias or mindlessly seeking the approval of their reference group.

So if I’m going to go out there and put myself in harm’s way - particularly after having been one of thousands of educators thrown under the metaphorical bus by society last year - I want some assurances that reasonable steps have been taken to keep me and the people around me safe. I don’t trust anyone who wants to hide their vaccination status. The unvaccinated are the reason the big prizes of being vaccinated - free movement, no masks, normal activities - are being taken away from the conscientious again. Show me you’re not one of the people/entities contributing to that, or I’m not interested in being around you, spending money in your establishment, or teaching your kids.

I looked but I couldn’t find information on if restaurant workers will be able to opt out by testing twice a week and wearing a mask. City Heath care workers have this option, maybe it will extend to restaurant workers, too.

www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/nyregion/new-york-city-vaccine-mandate.html

I wish it was private businesses taking this stance, like Broadway, Tyson, Google etc. However, the only way out of this pandemic is vaccinations. Carrots in the form of lotteries, cash incentives, fishing licenses etc haven’t worked, maybe it’s time for a stick. Maybe we need to make things a little more inconvenient for the unvaccinated.

In theory, I don’t have an objection to private businesses like restaurants requiring vaccines for patrons for indoor dining. Anyone in health care with patient contact should be vaccinated or wear a mask & test twice a week. I hope more businesses will require vaccines once they have full approval from the FDA.

I do feel for employees who will have to enforce this.  There may be people that make fake cards, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try vaccine requirements for businesses.  People make fake driver’s licenses too, but that doesn’t stop states from issuing real licenses.

I'm not vaccinated, and I absolutely do care.

May I ask why you’re not vaccinated?

oh my lessons in trust are not positive lessons.  I do not trust most humans as far as I can spit and I can't spit that far.  People who know my full story have asked me why I am not angry.  I cannot afford that emotion.  It destroys me physically and mentally.   So I learned a long time ago to avoid that emotion for long periods of time, but I have also re evaluated my blanket belief systems.  As evidenced by other peas who have posted here, there are other reasons why people choose not to disclose and it is a protection of others that they choose this option.  If they disclose then they are not notified if they have been exposed.  Since we do know that vaccinated people can carry the virus, I also would not disclose if that was an outcome.  I would want to know if I am exposed to the virus vaccine or not.  Does this still make us complicit in aiding the unvaccinated?  No.  It is steps that are taken to protect those around us as well.  The key is that they shouldn't have to explain themselves to anyone.  They can politely decline and move on.  If you want to get angry at the people who are openly non vaccinated go for it. But a little compassion for people who have complicated reasons for not disclosing is not a hard thing to ask.

All this talk of people finding other jobs, it could be very well turned around on you and me both.  We both could take different jobs that would not lead to us having these feelings.  You could quit teaching to protect those children.  I could stop being a nurse to protect my patients and my family members by bringing home the virus or carrying it with me to a docs office.  I'm guessing your argument for not leaving teaching would be very similar to mine for leaving nursing.  Who will take care of the children/patients?  If I go get another nursing job, my risk of bringing home the virus to compromised family members or passing it to another non vaccinated/compromised patient is still the same.  

I laugh at the "Well they can just stay home" arguments as well.  At the very beginning of this mess, the other side said the very same thing:  those at risk should just stay at home and let the rest of us live their lives.  And here we are again except the tables are turned.  yes I realize it isn't that simple however it is highly entertaining how an argument we took so much offense to at the beginning has now become our argument for our point.  

I get the anger.  I may not feel it personally but I do understand some of it.  I don't understand the level to which you paint everyone with the same brush.  

Yes, and my cardiologist

Except you get to go to a gym instead of a concentration camp. Not the same at all. I went to a concert in NYC tonight and there were a bunch of crazies outside shouting sh*+ like that because the concert required vaccinations. We don’t have a constitutional right to see Lady Gaga and likening it to the Holocaust is unbelievably offensive. .

We get vaccinated for mumps, to prevent horrible diseases. 4 million dead, I think this qualifies. My daughter works in an ER. They’re swamped and the patients are young and very sick. The hospital has many workers out sick with COVD because they wouldn’t get vaccinated. The others have to cover for them and hope they don’t die. This is a mess and meanwhile people are yammering about their right to go to the gym without a vaccine. SMH

In this particular person's case, they are Anti-what-i'm-for. But that's totally fine. Our body, our choice.   We've been good friends for 37 years. Those is no big deal. 

I think the City wants to know so that the unvaccinated can submit to regular tests. I don't know what they will do about those who don't want to state their status. 

I’m not saying you are out of line. I’m saying there are reasons people have to opting out to answer a question to their employer that is not because they are anti-vaccine.

My boss knows I’m vaccinated. Verbally everyone at work knows I’m vaccinated. I told them that I’m not willing to submit officially because of their policy. They said I then have to wear a a mask all day (where others don’t). I don’t care about wearing a mask - I have been doing it everyday since we went back to the office over a year ago (May 2020). With the delta variant around I would be wearing one anyway so that is not a punishment for me. I am not an anti-vaxer though. The way your post read is that I’m part of the of the problem because I won’t disclose my status to my employer and I don’t agree with that.

If my employer said I have to disclose or I’m fired I would have to have a sit down with HR to explain why I personally want to know if there is an outbreak in a building I have been to.