NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio mandates vaccine for ALL private sector workers by December 27 and children over five will need to show vaccine passport for indoor activities
- Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, said on Monday that he will soon tighten Covid restrictions in his state
- All private sector employers will be subject to vaccine mandate in the state, and children over the age of five will need proof of vaccine to dine indoors
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is tightening COVID-19 restrictions in the wake of the new Omicron COVID-19 variant, in what he is describing as a ‘pre-emptive strike’ against the virus.
The mayor announced Monday morning that he would soon institute a vaccine mandate for all private sector employees in the city and making children aged five to 11 show proof of vaccination to take part in indoors dining, fitness or entertainment activities.
Currently in New York, only those 12 and older have to show proof of vaccine, and they only have to receive at least one shot to be eligible, with that figure being bumped up to two shots under the new restrictions.
De Blasio said his new orders will go into effect on December 27, and an official announcement with more information is expected later on Monday.
Bill de Blasio, mayor of New York City, said on Monday morning that he will soon implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate on all private sector employers in the city, along with other vaccine mandates
‘We in New York City have decided to use a pre-emptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of Covid and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,’ de Blasio told MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
The mayor did not give details on how he would enforce these mandates on private businesses.
He said that the city health commissioner will release further details later in the day.
When the plan goes into place, New York City would be the first city to implement these kinds of mandates.
Currently, all people aged 12 or older have to show proof of vaccination to dine indoors or attend indoor events in the city.
The city is among those with the strictest Covid mandates in the nation already.
De Blasio said that he is making this move expecting a combination of factors to cause another Covid surge in the near future.
‘We’ve got omicron as a new factor, we’ve got the colder weather which is really gonna create additional challenges with the delta variant, we’ve got holiday gatherings,’ he said.
The city was averaging nearly 1,600 new Covid cases every day when data was last updated on November 30 a jump of around 25 percent from the 1,200 case daily average from two weeks earlier.
Colder months have been unkind to New York during the pandemic as well.
Both summer Covid surges that struck much of the nation in 2020 and 2021 did not make much noise in New York City.
The first pandemic wave, in early 2020, was disastrous, though, as the city was caught off-guard by the novel virus – reaching over 8,000 new cases per day at some points.
Last winter, Covid struck again, rising new daily cases to over 6,000 at some points during another massive surge.
With cases already trending upwards, and a new variant to worry about, officials are fearing this winter could be a replay of the last.
This is a breaking news story and will be updated