NYC proof of vaccination rule for restaurants, gyms ends March 7

NYC proof-of-vax mandate to end

Starting Monday, March 7, patrons will no longer be required to show proof of COVID vaccination at restaurants, bars, gyms, and entertainment venues.

NEW YORK - The Festival Cafe on the Upper East Side wants to celebrate now that Mayor Eric Adams has announced that proof of vaccination will no longer be required. But owner Tyler Hollinger is a little skeptical.

"It's almost too good to be true. We've been so used to being promised things, then having them ripped away," Hollinger said. "I'm not counting my chickens until it's all well and done."

Starting Monday, vaccine passports will no longer be required in restaurants, gyms, and entertainment venues in New York City.

Upper East Side resident Laura Vankin said she feels strongly that vaccine passports should continue.

"I won't vote for the mayor next time because of this," Vankin said. "We still should use the vaccine mandates as both to try and get more people vaccinated but also very concerned about once people start mixing, new variants coming about."

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Other New Yorkers FOX 5 NY spoke to had mixed reviews.

The mayor also said he hopes to lift the mask mandate for public school students and staff starting next Monday. Instead, they will have the option of wearing them indoors.

"We believe we're trending in the right direction," Adams said.

City Hall is waiting to see if the school COVID numbers spike this week now that students are back from their winter break. If the numbers remain low, the mask mandate will be scrapped.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew agrees with that plan.

"We fully support that our doctors, all the doctors are saying that this is the step that we need to take and hopefully this week we do not see a spike," Mulgrew said.