CA Incentivizes Venues To Ask For Proof Of Vaccination

CALIFORNIA — Indoor events are returning to the Golden State as it heads toward reopening completely by the summertime. And while officials have said they are not planning to enforce a vaccine passport, venues hosting live performances have a huge incentive to require proof of vaccination — larger capacity.

Earlier this month, the state released a fresh new set of rules for businesses and venues — both large and small — to resume indoor events. Included in the guidance on capacity was a note that capacity could increase at each tier level "if all guests are tested or show proof of full vaccination."

For example, if a 1,500 person concert venue within a red tier county does not require its guests to show proof of vaccination, they can allow 10 percent of their capacity to attend the show. But if they require that guests show their vaccine cards or proof of a recent coronavirus test, that capacity can increase to 20 percent.

In short, requiring a "vaccine passport" means that a venue can sell more tickets.

Also, forget smoking sections.

This year, California will debut "vaccinated-only sections," where inoculated attendees can sit shoulder to shoulder, but face coverings will still be required.

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On Monday, the state also updated its guidance on these sections, shortening the distance between fully vaccinated sections and other areas from 12 to 6 feet.

This means that to even access different areas of a venue or event, a ticket holder will need to flash their vaccine card, much like having to show identification to enter a beer garden at a large concert.

The state likely won't move forward with a vaccine passport, but that doesn't mean employers, businesses and venues can't.

"We’re working through whether it makes sense in the highest-risk venues — large, indoor, random-mixing environments — where there could be an expectation to have vaccine or testing verification," Dr. Mark Ghaly, California's health secretary, told the Los Angeles Times.

Gov. Gavin Newsom is also planning to reopen the state economy fully by June 15. Along with that announcement earlier this month the state detailed that businesses may resume operations "with limited public health restrictions, such as….testing or vaccination verification requirements for large-scale higher-risk events."

A vaccine passport is an official form that certifies that a person has been vaccinated against a certain disease. While these forms of clearance have long been used for international travel, several countries, such as Israel, have begun implementing COVID-19 vaccine passports.

In China and Bahrain, digital vaccine passports have been issued to allow residents to travel internationally, according to the Kaiser Health Foundation.

And while the U.S. has yet to require a vaccine pass, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released guidance saying fully vaccinated citizens can resume non-essential travel within the country.

Patch conducted a nonscientific survey last week and asked readers to weigh in on whether they would support a vaccine passport. Some 58 percent said they were against the idea, while nearly 42 percent said they were all for it.

"Proof of vaccine has been around for decades and was required for travel in some regions in the past," one respondent commented.

Many also expressed great concern about "choice" and government overreach.

"I myself have been vaccinated, however, I feel that this is crossing a line," another person said.

In California, the rate of vaccination is growing. This week, Newsom announced that one in four Californians are now fully vaccinated.

Last week, the state began receiving its highly anticipated boost in vaccine supply, further allowing counties to accelerate distribution to all Californians 16 and older.

To date, the state has administered 25,790,401 vaccine shots, with around 10 million Californians fully vaccinated, according to state data.

Across the United States, 25.4 percent of Americans were fully vaccinated as of Monday, and 39.5 percent have received at least one shot, according to the CDC.

Meanwhile, the state was able to sustain a lower than ever positivity rate: 1.4 percent. Hospitalizations have plummeted. Officials said that the state is on track to reopen this summer even with the temporary pause of the J&J product and the presence of highly contagious variants.

"We are still targeting June 15," Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state's health secretary, told reporters at an event hosted by the Sacramento Press Club last week. "So far, the variants we have been concerned about have largely been entirely responsive to the vaccine. We don't have a variant that completely escapes our vaccines."

California Coronavirus Data As Of Monday

• 3,618,695 confirmed cases to date.

• 1,916 newly recorded confirmed cases Sunday.

• 1.4 percent is the seven-day positivity rate.

• 57,934,087 tests have been conducted in California.

• 59,772 COVID-19 deaths have been reported since the start of the pandemic.