Service workers now have another thankless job: Checking vaccine statuses – By Rebecca Heilweil (VOX) / Sept 2 2021
Several US cities have instituted vaccine passport systems for indoor dining.
As the delta variant prolongs the Covid-19 pandemic, three major US cities — San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York City — have started rolling out vaccine requirements for anyone visiting indoor public spaces like restaurants, cinemas, and gyms. And other localities may soon follow suit: Honolulu will institute a vaccine passport system this month (patrons can also submit a recent negative Covid-19 test), while the Los Angeles City Council is considering a similar program. But these new proof of vaccination rules are already creating new problems for venues and workers, who have largely been left on their own to figure out how to enforce the requirements and how to respond when angry customers push back.
It all fits into the bigger pattern of how the United States has handled the pandemic. The US rollout of different vaccination and mask requirements has been patchwork. The White House has said it will not establish a national vaccine passport system, meaning that states, cities, and even private companies have built their own versions of vaccine passport apps (while some states, like Florida, have banned vaccine passports entirely). This checkered approach means that despite the wide availability of vaccine record apps, the only standardized way in the US to prove your vaccination status is the flimsy and easy-to-lose paper card with the CDC insignia that doesn’t quite fit in the average person’s wallet.
“A guy came in here and told the bartender, ‘I wanna see your hepatitis and your AIDS vaccine,’” Candace Hutchinson, a manager at Beachcorner Bar and Grill in New Orleans who often greets customers, told Recode. Business has been down at least a quarter since the New Orleans indoor vaccine mandate went into effect on August 16, another Beachcorner manager, Gina Perrett, told Recode, and some customers are rebelling. One customer recently threw a drink in an employee’s face over the new rules.
CONTINUE > https://www.vox.com/recode/22652766/service-workers-vaccine-passports-customers-mask-mandates
