Good news for Angelenos who are tired of COVID mandates. On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council voted to lift the city’s vaccine verification requirement.
It’s the latest step that local politicians and health officials have taken recently to ease COVID restrictions, as coronavirus transmission steadily falls. Earlier in the month the city and county made masking optional (if you’re vaccinated) in most settings.
The new policy won’t go into effect until the city attorney’s office drafts a new ordinance and the city council approves it but all signs are pointing to an end to vaccine verification requirements at restaurants, bars, movie theaters, gyms and other locations in the near future, regardless of a patron’s vaccination status.
Proof of vaccination will still be required at indoor “mega-events” such as Laker games, where more than 1,000 people are in attendance. Or if businesses choose to continue to require proof of vax.
Citing a significant decrease in transmission and relatively high vaccination rates, local officials are following in the footsteps of major cities like New York, Philadelphia and Boston. “We may have to do this again with COVID, but in the meantime, we can’t sit at home hoping that it doesn’t come while our city is not prospering,” New York Mayor Eric Adams said earlier this week.