New York City to lift vaccination mandate for businesses, events

[Throck]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-city-lifts-vaccine-mandate-businesses-events-rcna17415

New York City, the first U.S. metropolis to require vaccinations indoors, will lift its mandate for indoor businesses, dining and events in the coming days.

Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday that his administration would end its vaccination mandate requirements on March 7 as long as Covid-19 case numbers continue to trend downward. He joins public officials who made similar decisions in cities such as Seattle and Boston in recent weeks.

The indoor mask mandate will also be lifted in public schools the same day provided no unexpected spikes arise, Adams said.

Any idea what's going on with this? I haven't seen any CDC supporting data.

[Johnny2X2X]

1. Numbers are under control in much of the country right now

You can't keep these measures in place indefinitely, and by removing them now you increase your chance at getting compliance should another wave hit in the future and you have to reinstitute them.

This was never about controlling people, it was always about smart public health policy. When the cases are trending towards nill, it's time to ease restrictions.

Omicron did what a lot of experts predicted, it burned through the population pretty good and left people with some immunity. What that means for new variants in the near future is anyone's guess, but getting back to normal now allows people a chance to feel some relief with the idea that if it's needed in the future they'll know these measures are temporary.

[Blues Heron]

3. They should keep the grocery store mask Mandate until cases go to zero for two weeks

Otherwise your telling people it’s ok to not mask during a deadly pandemic, which is not normal at all. Normal is mask during pandemic, unmask when it’s over. We’ve been burned too many times to Be this stupid again.

[Johnny2X2X]

4. It's long enough

You've got a city of 10 million people seeing less than 500 new cases a day and that trend is still falling fast. The masks aren't having an effect anymore with that little spread, they're just for show at that point. It's not stupid to give people respite from these mandates, it's smart and an investment in the future if you have to reinstitute them again.

And these aren't all of the vaccine mandates they're talking about pulling, you'll still need to be vaccinated to work in NYC for the time being.

[Blues Heron]

5. Just for show lol!

Love it! That’s insane, they block transmission, it’s not even up for debate. Nice talking point though.

[Johnny2X2X]

6. When there is virtually no transmission going on they are for show

NY had 484 cases yesterday and that will be down to 200 by the end of the week, when the virus is not spreading, masks are not necessary. The virus is not spreading in NYC, it's dying out actually.

[Blues Heron]

10. 1500 people are dying every day from this, 60,000 new cases

You call that no transmission?

[Johnny2X2X]

11. We're talking about NYC only

In NYC there are 10 Million people, more than all but 11 states, they had 484 cases yesterday, transmission there is virtually nothing and it's trending lower every week. Masks helped get NYC to this point, so did vaccine mandates, but at this point neither is needed anymore as it's well under control there.

When you enforce mandates with almost no spread it's counter productive and feeds into the Rightwing narrative that Dems just want to control people's lives. NYC is making some very cautious and measured decisions around these, the rest of the country will be able to follow suit soon too if the trends continue.

NYC also had some of the most severe mandates in the country, relief is needed after those measures have worked,

[Ace Rothstein]

20. You know every state in the country had a huge omicron wave right?

Whether masks were being worn or not.

[Blues Heron]

21. what does that prove? - no one was masking- they were partying over the holdays

Spreading was rampant because people were NOT masking. You know that right?

Masks work- full stop. Anti-mask whiners/trolls are prolonging this pandemic needlessly.

[Ace Rothstein]

28. Masks worked prior to Omicron.

Omicron changed the game with mask effectiveness. Just look at Hong Kong right now.

[Celerity]

7. Cases will likely never go to zero again, at least not for a long, long time (as in years and years)

so that is not a reasonable standard to apply. The virus, unfortunately, will very likely become somewhat endemic.

[Blues Heron]

9. Bollocks - we were close to it last year

We need to get people on board to stamp this thing into submission. This is like walking away from a forest fire because it’s “only” smoldering. You let down your guard after it’s over, not before.

[Celerity]

12. We (US, UK, Sweden, etc) were never remotely close to 'zero cases' since the pandemic started.

Even places that were very close, like New Zealand, where never able to stamp it out entirely, despite the most severe and longest term (duration) restrictions of any advanced, western oriented country.

[Blues Heron]

13. well in that case lets just lift all restrictions and pretend its over

the virus is much obliged i’m sure!

[Celerity]

14. I isn't a binary choice between nothing or full restrictions unless zero cases, that's a false

dilemma/choice. Unfortunately (speaking about the US now) there is enough disobedience from too many people (tens upon tens of millions) to get to zero, plus it is not politically tenable for Democrats to insist on comprehensive restrictions with no sunset in sight.
Unfortunate? Yes. Tragic? Yes, but the the American form of constitutional government does not allow for top down federal command and control of all spheres to levels necessary to force total or near total adherence, nor do many (all?) state governments.

[Blues Heron]

15. at least keep the masks for supermarkets

That’s really the big one for me.

[Celerity]

16. I think that is a good idea, I just do not think enough politicians (even Dems) will agree to levels

where they remain in place.

The average DU'er would go mental if they were here in Sweden.

95 to 98% unmasked I would estimate as of right now. Even at peak Omicron it was 15 to 25% max, even indoors.

It depended on the area, the suburbs were always lower in rate (the poorer areas, most European 'suburbs' are the less well-off, far more ethnically/culturally diverse areas, with some exceptions).

Social distancing was/is far greater than in the US (it is a natural cultural state for many here), as are vax rates, so that is a positive.

[democrattotheend]

17. Will cases ever go to zero?

It doesn't seem like it, contrary to what Trump said in March 2020. This virus is here to stay, sadly.

[Blues Heron]

24. We beat Smallpox and Polio, we can beat this. I think you are wrong.

Defeatist attitudes only become self-fulfilling prophecies.

[Dial H For Hero]

29. Some diseases can be beaten completely. This does not appear to be the case for some others.

Influenza comes to mind immediately, which kills tens of thousands in the United States alone every year.

[Ace Rothstein]

19. Cases are never going to zero.

[Blues Heron]

25. Certainly not with defeatist attitudes like that

[Ace Rothstein]

27. We're going to need way better vaccines to get there.

And more people to take them which is highly unlikely. And to somehow vaccinate the entire world at once. So yeah, it isn't going to happen.

[IbogaProject]

2. New Mayor New priorities

He wants everyone back in NYC. Office workers, night clubbers, vacationers, and shoppers are all in historically low supply. Maybe this will lure more back, but I think we are witnessing a cultural shiftm with less trips to the big cities. I think the strong economic numbers are illusory as it amounts to 30 months of demand piled into 12 months, of which we are already part way through. I predict economic cooling by summer, unless there is any major new spending shifts. Even the drop in the child tax credit and remaining pandemic related tax refunds finish are going to have impact as that extra money gets spent a few times with less behind it. Also the unwinding of the LIBOR loan rate system is now set to end in June 2023, but it is already dissaperaring as a competitive bid system and we are now going to see more controlled interest rates. As rates go up things are going to weaken economically. And as the R scheduled middleclass tax hike for odd years hits during tax season, consumer sentiment is going to weaken. They will blame us for the taxes and the resulting slowdown.

[NYFlip]

8. I live in NYC

I live in New York I am not thrilled with lifting the restrictions I think restaurants should still check vaccination status. I don’t want to sit next to an unvaccinated person, sit next to them in theaters or walk in small spaces like museums. I just don’t trust them to stay home if infected. Everyone also forgets the 4 year old and younger set. They can t get vaccinated and are in danger of getting sick

[Polybius]

18. Very glad it's ending

It was implemented in NYC in August. Can't say it did much good, as nearly everyone here got Covid in December and January anyway.

[Blues Heron]

26. Because they didn't mask or distance

It requires a modicum of participation from people.

[BeckyDem]

22. More than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths have been reported in the United States each day for the past month

Average daily deaths are falling, but from a very high point. They dipped just below that mark in recent days, to about 1,900 on Monday; the federal holiday may have delayed reporting.

Before Omicron became the dominant coronavirus strain in the US, there were only about 100 other days when there were more than 2,000 Covid-19 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/health/covid-deaths-now-younger-unvaccinated/index.html

[BeckyDem]

23. State of the Union attendance required a COVID test. 6 legislators tested positive

At least six legislators announced Tuesday that they had tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the evening's State of the Union address.

https://www.npr.org/2022/03/01/1083845000/state-of-the-union-covid?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social