The NYC Employee Vaccine mandate was just announced to have special exemptions for "performers and professional athletes."
It's obvious just how political all this lockdown/mask/vaccine mandate nonsense has been.
Apparently, NYC is lifting its Covid vaccine mandate for “performers and athletes,” but not everyone else. This is the definition of politicizing vaccination.
From Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/23/adams-vaccine-mandate-performers-athletes-00019851
NEW YORK — Kyrie Irving and other unvaccinated athletes will be allowed to play professional sports in New York City under a major policy change Mayor Eric Adams is poised to announce Thursday, people familiar with the matter confirmed.
Adams has been relaxing Covid-19 policies instituted by former Mayor Bill de Blasio since taking office Jan. 1, as he seeks to resume a sense of normalcy in the pandemic-ravaged city.
On Thursday the mayor is expected to declare his decision to reverse the private-sector vaccine mandate specifically for performers and athletes in local venues, including Barclays Center — home to the Brooklyn Nets — and both Citi Field in Queens and Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
The news comes on the heels of Adams’ announcement Tuesday that he plans to lift the mask mandate for toddlers in city daycare centers on April 4.
These rules/exceptions would be too stupid to believe if NYC hadn’t done so many stupid things for two years straight—going on three.
“As we stated, the name of the game is that we’re not going to be heavy-handed with the private sector mandate,” he told reporters at an unrelated press conference. “We’re not going to run around the buildings and check vaccine cards.”
“If Kyrie Irving is practicing, I’m not at the sports facility. The attorneys can tell us if he can practice or not, if he’s in violation of that or not,” Adams added. “I’ll speak with my attorney to see if it is or isn’t.”
A mayoral spokesperson declined to comment.
Among those lobbying City Hall on behalf of the Nets are The Parkside Group and former City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, according to public record. The Mets is owned by Steve Cohen, who donated $1.5 million to a political action committee backing Adams in the Democratic primary last year. Johnson advised Adams’ mayoral transition.
During his final month in office, de Blasio expanded his “Key to NYC” regulationsgoverning vaccine mandates for children and private-sector workers. Adams lifted the requirement for patrons on March 7, the same day he ended the in-school mask rule for children ages 5 and older.
The news — which comes one week after Adams said he expects to eventually roll back the city’s mandates for all private-sector employers — was criticized by City Hall’s former Covid-19 senior adviser Jay Varma, who also worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I think the same rules on vaccination should apply uniformly to all,” Varma said in an interview. “If there’s a carveout for this group, why can’t any other group then raise its hand and say, I deserve a carveout too.”
“Basically it sends a message that this is an arbitrary rule — that if you’re rich enough and powerful enough and high profile enough, that you don’t have to play by the same rules as everyone else,” Varma added.
How many nurses, teachers, doctors, janitors, police officers, firefighters, public transit employees, and every other person employed in New York City, who worked hard to feed their families, were fired because of being unvaccinated last fall? Why is the city of New York making exceptions at this point? Oh yeah, “the science” has changed!
I’m calling the new mayor of New York City “Eric DeBlasio” until every single COVID policy the last idiotic mayor implemented is forever rescinded.
Meanwhile, it appears as if Broadway theaters are continuing their vaccine/mask policy forever. Really?!
NYC is an absolute clown show.
Clayton is the founder and publisher of the social and political commentary newsletter Think Things Through and host of the Think Things Through Podcast.
Twitter: @claytoncraddock