You are reading

NYC will Require Vaccination Proof for Indoor Dining, Gyms Starting Tuesday

Excelsior pass app (NY State via Flickr)

Aug. 16, 2021 By Allie Griffin

Business owners who operate a bar, restaurant, gym or similar establishment must require their customers and workers to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination in order to gain entry starting Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today.

The businesses that fail to comply with the vaccine mandate will face fines starting at $1,000 when enforcement begins on Sept. 13. Repeat offenders will be fined up to $5,000 per violation.

The city requires business owners to check that their customers and employees have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine in order to be permitted inside under the new mandate, which the city has dubbed “Key to NYC.”

Businesses are only permitted to allow customers and workers inside who can show proof of vaccination either through the NYC COVID Safe app; the New York State Excelsior Pass; the CDC vaccination card — which all Americans receive when vaccinated; or a photo of their vaccine record.

New Yorkers can download the NYC COVID Safe app for Android or IOS and upload a photo of their vaccine card in order to use it, or they can get the state Excelsior Pass on the state website by answering questions about their vaccination.

Residents can also request vaccine records from the NYC Dept. of Health.

The city also requires business owners to train their staff as to what is considered acceptable proof and have a written plan for the implementation of the policy.

The business operators are only permitted to allow an unvaccinated person inside if it is to use the restroom, pick up or place an order, or any other reason that takes a short amount of time. Unvaccinated customers are permitted to sit or dine outside.

Children 12 and under are also not subject to vaccine restrictions.

Businesses must also post signage, available on the city’s website, to inform customers of the vaccine requirement.

The city has provided a list of business types where proof of the vaccine is required to gain entry. They include restaurants, bars, nightclubs, catering halls, coffee shops, hotel banquet rooms, grocery stores with indoor dining, movie and performing arts theaters, concert venues, museums and galleries, aquariums and zoos, professional sports arenas, indoor stadiums, exhibition halls, bowling alleys, arcades, indoor play areas, gyms and fitness centers, indoor pools and dance studios.

De Blasio said the mandate is part of the city’s strategy to make sure that more residents get vaccinated amid the spread of the highly-contagious delta variant. About 63 percent of all New York City residents have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In Queens, 69 percent of residents have had at least one shot.

“The Key to NYC is an approach that makes clear the power of vaccination,” he said during a morning press conference. “It is the ultimate encouragement to get people vaccinated, to say, there are so many amazing things in this city that you can participate in if you’re vaccinated.”

De Blasio added that the mandate specifically is a way to get more young people, in their 20s and 30s, vaccinated.

The mandate doesn’t apply to residential and office buildings, childcare programs and schools, senior centers, community centers, soup kitchens and food pantries.

The city is launching an aggressive outreach campaign, including a $10 million multi-platform paid media campaign, to inform business owners about the new mandate ahead of enforcement.

Business owners with questions are advised to call the NYC Department of Small Business Services hotline at 888-SBS-4NYC (888-727-4692), 311, or go online to nyc.gov/keytonyc.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

2 Comments

Click for Comments 
Jorge Melendez

Are they going to require vaccine proof at polling stations? You know since asking for ID is racist perhaps asking for a vaccine card is too. Right?

Reply

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Queens students advance in Minecraft esports competition ahead of NYC’s first-ever Video Game Festival

May. 21, 2025 By Czarinna Andres

More than 270 students from across Queens gathered at Thomas Edison High School in Jamaica, on Saturday, May 5, to compete in the 2025 Minecraft Education Battle of the Boroughs semi-finals — a key event leading up to the City of New York’s first-ever Video Game Festival later this month, presented by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment. 

Woodhaven man charged with abducting and assaulting 11-year-old girl in Forest Park: NYPD

A Woodhaven man is accused of abducting an 11-year-old girl as she rode her bike in Forest Park on Monday evening and then dragging her into a wooded area near Victory Field, where he groped and assaulted her before her father intervened and chased him away.

Teddy Moussignac, 44, of 102nd Street, was arraigned Wednesday morning in Queens Criminal Court on a complaint charging him with kidnapping, sexual abuse, assault and other related crimes.

MTA Transit employee arrested for alleged lewd act at Woodhaven Boulevard station: NYPD

The MTA has suspended a NYC Transit station cleaner after he was caught red-handed in a compromising position and arrested at the Woodhaven Boulevard subway station near the Queens Center Mall on the morning of Monday, May 12.

Police from the Transit District 20 were on a Manhattan-bound E train that stopped at the station at around 3:10 a.m. When the doors opened, they observed a man performing a lewd act on a platform bench, allegedly masturbating with one hand while rubbing a woman’s feet with his other hand.