NYC Restaurants Brace For Indoor COVID Vaccine Mandate

NEW YORK CITY — A complete shutdown. Takeout-only. Outdoor dining. A tentative move to indoor dining. Capacity limits. Reopening.

Susannah Koteen and her restaurant, Lido in Harlem, contended with that carousel of restrictions served up by officials in the coronavirus pandemic. Through it all, the Italian eatery's James Beard award-winning chef continued to spin out plates of squid ink linguine and lamb chops farro to diners.

Soon, Koteen and her staff will contend with the latest rule — a proof of vaccination mandate for indoor dining and restaurant workers starting Aug. 16.

"You never know what changes like this are going to create,” Koteen said. “But on the other hand, maybe people will feel more comfortable."

Comfort is coming in shorter supply as the delta variant of coronavirus spreads.

The variant is now the overwhelmingly dominant virus strain in the city, and has caused cases to surge from just under 200 a day in June to roughly 1,400 daily infections, data shows.

Mayor Bill de Blasio has taken a firm stance on the solution to fight the delta variant: vaccination.

"Does anyone want to go back to restrictions?" he said Friday during his daily brieding. "Does anyone want to go back to seeing a huge loss of life? If you don't want those things, take the delta variant seriously. And that's why New York City is doing some of the most aggressive actions in America. We are setting the pace on purpose."

The city's "Key To NYC Pass" is de Blasio's aggressive action — a requirement that customers and workers in indoor restaurants, indoor entertainment venues and gyms be vaccinated.

Many details have yet to be ironed out, but de Blasio and health officials said New Yorkers and others must show proof of vaccination by an app — either the city's "NYC COVID Safe App" or the state's Excelsior Pass — or a paper card in order to gain entry into establishments like restaurants.

Restaurateurs reacted with a mix of trepidation and optimism.

Andrew Rigie, who heads the powerful NYC Hospitality Alliance, gave a cautious thumbs up to the policy — a sign of approval he didn't give to the rush of state-mandated restrictions restaurants faced throughout the pandemic.

“Mandating vaccine requirements for restaurant and bar employees and customers to work and dine indoors is a very difficult step, but ultimately may prove an essential move to protecting public health and ensuring that New York City does not revert to restrictions and shut down orders that would again absolutely devastate small businesses that have not yet recovered from the pandemic," he said in a statement. “We know that a mandated vaccine requirement will pose economic and operational challenges to restaurants, particularly in communities with lower vaccination rates and hesitancy, however it will also alleviate the burden that restaurants and bars face when implementing this policy voluntarily."

Other restaurateurs appeared to side with Staten Island Council Member Joe Borelli, who with other city Republicans has protested the mandate.

"Restaurants were just asking me how they can reduce 20 to 40% of their customers," he tweeted.

Koteen, for her part, said a vaccine requirement could just as easily bring more people to Lido. She noted as it stands now, New Yorkers don't know if their fellow customers are vaccinated unless the restaurant set that as a requirement.

She's more concerned with how the city will handle enforcement.

"What always makes me nervous is the city always seems to come down on restaurants," she said.

"I’m afraid it’s one more thing to come down on us and use us for the piggy bank for New York.”

The city has yet to spell out how enforcement will work when it officially begins Sept. 13. Dave Chokshi, the city's health commissioner, said multiple agencies will be involved.

But Koteen said she's not too worried about her own restaurant. Only one or two staff have yet to receive the vaccine, and they work their shifts with masks, she said.

Overall, she's hopeful.

"I hope it just encourages more people to vaccinated,” she said.