“Major Threats are Looming,” said Mayor, who Plans to Publish Guidelines for Vaccination Mandate on Private Businesses on Dec. 15

By Yehudit Garmaise

When Mayor Bill de Blasio said about his vaccine mandate for New York City businesses, “It is time to do something even bigger: before Omicron asserts itself here, before we get into the holiday gatherings, before we get the colder weather,” a reporter asked him how that new mandate, which will go into effect on Dec. 27, will be enforced.

The mayor responded that after “working together with the different business communities between now and Dec. 15,” City Hall will publish guidelines that establish protocols and enforcement guidelines for in-person employees, “well before the mandate takes effect on Dec. 27.”

He added, however, that when the Key to NYC program, first went into effect on Aug. 17, but was not enforced until Sept. 13, very few businesses were penalized.

"It is part of life that there have to be some consequences," said the mayor, who did not specify what kinds of penalities might be applied to non-remote employees of private businesses.

NYC employees in private businsses will be able to apply for reasonable accomodations, but in terms of penalties, "different companies will have different approaches," the mayor said. "I don't think we are talking about too many situations where people will have to take leave."

The mayor did think, however, that many more New Yorkers would get their shots, "as they did with every other mandate."

In light of the Omicron variant, the mayor said, “We needed to do something bold quickly, and get ahead of all of this.

“Hospitalizations are rising. Major threats are looming.”

After speaking intensively with his medical team, what the mayor said he hears “loud and clear is, “Vaccination, vaccination, vaccination: anything that gets more people vaccinated: that is what we have to do right now.”

Mitch Katz, MD, the CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals explained, “What is amazing is how good COVID is at finding the unvaccinated.”

“This virus is amazing at finding those people who are unvaccinated and making them sick,” Dr. Katz said bluntly. “Everything that we can do to get everyone vaccinated will make a huge difference.”

While some vaccinated people do get infected with COVID, Dr. Katz said that “their symptoms are “overwhelmingly mild.”

“Some vaccinated people test positive without any symptoms,” Dr. Katz said. “But for people who are unvaccinated, we continue to see in our hospitals, very serious disease: people on ventilators, people dying.

“We just want everyone vaccinated, so we do not have to have any more death in New York City [from COVID]. We have gone through enough.”

When it comes to imposing vaccination mandates on private businesses, the mayor said that City Hall learned a lot from his Key to NYC program, in which restaurants, indoor fitness centers, and entertainment venues must check customers’ vaccination statuses before they are admitted.

When first in effect, the Key to NYC program only required New York City patrons to provide proof of one shot, but now the mayor has increased that requirement to providing proof of both vaccine shots.

“We are going to figure out ways to improve our approach to educating and providing support [to the city’s 200,000 businesses],” said Mayor de Blasio, who said he will be providing a call center to address the concerns of business owners.

“We have a lot of evidence now that this approach will work,” said the mayor, who said legally, he felt he had the authority to issue such mandates because in a public health crisis, the health commissioner and mayor "have to act" and have "the duty and the right to protect all New Yorkers."

Georgia Pestana, the mayor's corporation counsel said, "The health commissioner has an obligation and a responsibilty to protect the public health, and here he is issuing an order that is intended to do just that in a public health emergency, so he has that authority: across the boards-not treating one industry differently over another.

"We are confident this mandate will survive any [legal] challenges."

Mayor-elect Eric Adams, with whom Mayor de Blasio said he spoke in planning the vaccinate mandate for private businesses has not necessarily promised to continue with them when he is sworn in just days after Dec. 27, when the mandates go into effect.

Adams' spokesperson, Evan Thies said, the mayor-elect "will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficiacy, and the advice of health professionals, although last week in a press conference, the Adams said not to expect current vaccination mandates and efforts to wane when he becomes mayor on Jan. 1, 2022.

Photo: Flickr