Policing NYC fake vaccine cards burdens restaurants, as FBI warns of booming black market
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New measures requiring proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, gyms and other aspects of public life in New York City and elsewhere are putting a burden on private businesses already beleaguered after COVID-19-induced lockdowns to police fraudulent vaccination cards, as the FBI has sounded the alarm over the growing black markets for such counterfeit inoculation passports.
The vaccination requirement for New York City indoor dining, entertainment and fitness facilities isn’t supposed to take effect until the week of Aug. 16 – though Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday applauded the some 30 business that already voluntarily started requiring proof of vaccination at entry. Enforcement will begin Sept. 13.
"Early adopters of the Key to NYC program are public health heroes," de Blasio said Monday. "Mass vaccination is the only way to stop the spread – and these businesses are giving New Yorkers more reasons than ever to protect themselves and their communities. I’m proud to stand with them."
NEW YORK CITY HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY GIVES MIZED REACTION TO NEW VACCINE REQUIREMENTS
Other restaurant owners, though, have voiced concern about the need to police this new rule, fearing shutdowns from the state department of health would further hurt their already suffering business.
"Our city’s restaurants have been devastated, and this is another imposition that is going to be extraordinarily tough for restaurants to deal with," Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, which represents over 4,000 restaurants, told "Fox & Friends" last week. "Restaurant workers have been put in the impossible position throughout the pandemic to essentially be the COVID police."
"I speak with restaurant owners throughout the city, and there’s a lot of people with a lot of different and passionate views about this, but the one thing we know is we can’t get shut down again. And if that’s a potential threat, we need to do everything now to avoid it," he said.
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