On Wednesday, the LA City Council denied a motion that would have required 500x more COVID vaccines to be administered before shopping centers could open. The change was made in response to concerns over cost and lack of access among low-income areas. Experts predict this will create challenges not just for the city of Los Angeles but throughout California as local governments try to find ways around what they believe is an unfriendly mandate from state legislators.
(CBSLA) – LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – On Friday, the Los Angeles City Council approved minor revisions to the broad new rule that went into effect earlier this week, requiring individuals to produce confirmation of complete COVID-19 immunization to enter restaurants, coffee shops, gyms, and a variety of other facilities.
On October 21, 2021, shoppers leave Nordstrom at The Grove in Los Angeles. (Getty Images/Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times) )
The SafePassLA requirement went into force on November 8th. The city, on the other hand, said it won’t start enforcing it until November 29 to allow companies more time to comply.
The municipal council made the most noticeable adjustment by removing “malls and shopping complexes” from the list of indoor public venues that need evidence of vaccination since they typically have several points of entrance and would be too difficult to police.
Another significant change is that evidence of vaccination will be needed only for people aged 12 and above, not for those under the age of 11.
The ordinance now applies to the following:
- Restaurants, pubs, fast food restaurants, coffee shops, tasting rooms, cafeterias, food courts, breweries, vineyards, distilleries, banquet halls, and hotel ballrooms are all examples of places to visit.
- Recreation facilities, fitness studios (including yoga, pilates, dance, and barre), boxing gyms, fitness boot camps, and facilities that offer indoor group exercise courses are all examples of gyms and fitness venues.
- Movie theaters, concert venues, performance venues, adult entertainment venues, commercial event and party venues, sports arenas, convention centers, exhibition halls, museums, performing arts theaters, bowling alleys, arcades, card rooms, family entertainment centers, pool and billiard halls, play areas and game centers are all examples of entertainment and recreation venues.
- Unless medically necessary, personal care enterprises such as spas, nail salons, hair salons, barbershops, tanning salons, estheticians, skin care, tattoo shops, piercing shops, and massage therapy sites.
Attending outdoor gatherings with 5,000 or more people also needs evidence of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, according to the law.
Businesses who violate the new legislation will be fined $1,000 for a second offense, $2,000 for a third violation, and $5,000 for a fourth and subsequent infraction when enforcement starts Nov. 29.
People patronizing or working in an indoor bar, vineyard, brewery, nightclub, or lounge in the county must be completely vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the county’s standards, which are less wide than the city’s.
According to the most recent statistics, 80 percent of eligible Los Angeles County people aged 12 and above have gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccination, with 72 percent having received all three doses.
Last Monday, children aged 5 to 11 became eligible for vaccinations, a population that numbers almost 900,000 in Los Angeles County.
Click here for additional information about SafePassLA.
(CBS Broadcasting Inc., Copyright 2021, All Rights Reserved.) This article was written with the help of City News Service.)