Salem Mayor Wants Vaccine Order For City Gyms, Bars, Restaurants

SALEM, MA — Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll said she will recommend to the Board of Health that the city enacts a coronavirus vaccination requirement to enter many indoor businesses, including bars, restaurants, gyms and entertainment venues.

Driscoll posted on her Twitter account that she is in favor of the vaccine mandates Boston Mayor Michelle Wu announced Monday morning and that she wants similar rules in Salem.

"I support putting in place a vax requirement for restaurants, gyms + entertainment venues and will be recommending to our Board of Health that we move in this direction," she posted. "We need to use all the tools in our toolbox to address the current COVID challenges.

"We will continue to work with our small businesses to implement public health measures. Vaccine requirements, testing and masking up indoors are all part of the mix when it comes to beating back COVID."

The Salem Board of Health discussed a potential vaccine mandate and indoor business mask requirement at its meeting last Tuesday, but did not vote on any new orders. While Salem Hospital President Dr. David Roberts said he supports any mitigation effort that will help alleviate the pressure on understaffed regional hospitals, the vast majority of the public comment was against a business vaccine order, while Board of Health members said that while they were in support of getting as many Salem residents vaccinated as possible, making them required to enter or work in businesses was "complicated."

"It seems like we have a consensus that none of us feels comfortable taking a vote on a mitigation measure," Board member and Acting Chair Paul Kirby said.

Roberts was more emphatic on the need for mandates to "protect the vaccinated people of the city of Salem from the unvaccinated."

"And we should make it difficult for unvaccinated people to interact with vaccinated people," he concluded.

(READ: Boston To Require Vaccination Proof For Some Indoor Spaces: Wu)

Boston's "B Together" order goes into effect on Jan. 15 with all those entering bars, restaurants, gyms, entertainment venues and sports arenas required to have at least one vaccine dose at that time. Two doses will be required by Feb. 15 with children 5 years old and old required to be vaccinated by March.

Boston city employees will also have until Jan. 15 to get their first dose with the alternative testing option eliminated at that time.

Acceptable forms of proof will include a CDC vaccination card, a digital image of the card, an image of another official immunization record or a COVID vaccine verification app.

"The unvaccinated are killing us," said Somerville Mayor Joe Curatone in response to Wu's Monday morning announcement.

While the Board of Health will ultimately decide what, if any, requirements are coming to Salem, Driscoll indicated she wants them to be similar to those Wu unveiled on Monday.

"I hope taking these measures will help keep our city safe, open and strong," she said. "We want our businesses staffed + open, our kids attending school + our or hospitals available to meet our health/wellness needs.

With so little beds available, we are at risk of not meeting our health care needs."

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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