If you want to dine indoors, go to a gym or attend an event at an entertainment venue in New York, you'll need to show proof that you have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Starting on September 13, New York began enforcing its vaccine mandate for various indoor venues. The rules extend to include workers at these facilities as well.
"The business has gone down at least 35 to 40 percent, and we expect it to go down a little more," said Pedro Zamora, owner of Cantina Rooftop in Manhattan. "But on the other hand, I feel good to do that because it's the way to end the pandemic, and I urge everybody, if you're not vaccinated, try to get vaccinated as soon as possible because that's only for the good of our community and to stop this virus from going on."
If businesses are found not to be compliant, they can be fined $1,000 for a first offense, with increasing penalties if they continue to break the rules.
New York has some of the strictest vaccine mandates in the United States. Mayor Bill de Blasio also requires city workers to be vaccinated or to undergo weekly COVID-19 testing. Students 12 and up who participate in "high-risk" after-school activities, like sports or performing arts, also must be vaccinated.
The U.S. has already begun delivering critically needed munitions and military equipment to Israel, and the State Department now says that at least 11 American citizens have been killed in the weekend Hamas attacks on Israel.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected a bill on Sunday that would have made free condoms available to all public high school students, arguing it was too expensive for a state with a budget deficit of more than $30 billion.
Israel’s military ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip on Monday, halting entry of food, fuel and supplies to its 2.3 million people as it pounded the Hamas-ruled territory with waves of airstrikes in retaliation for the militants’ bloody weekend incursion.
Donald Trump’s lawyers asked a New York appeals court Friday to halt his Manhattan civil fraud trial while they fight a court ruling that calls for dissolving companies that control some of the former president’s most prized assets, including Trump Tower.
A witness claimed that former president Donald Trump revealed potentially sensitive information about U.S. military capabilities to a former businessman.
