Next Tuesday, Aug. 31, the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors will discuss the implementation of vaccination mandates for certain indoor businesses, and Long Beach will be watching.
“I believe strongly, not everybody does, but the public good always trumps personal liberty,” Mayor Robert Garcia said at a Tuesday, Aug. 24 city council meeting, alluding to persons who are unwilling to be vaccinated. “The greater public good and public health have to be considered, first and foremost, greater than a person’s individual belief about their own personal liberty in that moment.”
Cities across the region have discussed the implementation of vaccine mandates. These mandates don’t require all individuals to get vaccinated, but rather require proof of vaccination to enter into certain businesses where the risk of COVID-19 transmission is higher.
Currently, the City of Long Beach is reaching positive case levels similar to its first case surge around July 2020. Still, those levels are dwarfed by the winter surge that peaked around January of this year.
Though vaccination levels are increasing in Long Beach—76% of adults have received at least their first dose of a vaccine—the highly transmissible Delta variant is threatening gains that the City has made in reopening.
In Long Beach, masks are required in all indoor public spaces and outdoors during large-scale events with more than 10,000 attendees. Vaccines or regular tests are required for workers at dentist offices, many acute care facilities, healthcare settings, high-risk congregate settings like homeless shelters and in public and private schools.
In an Aug. 10 motion, Supervisor Janice Hahn stated, “To prevent future surges and new variants from circulating, especially as we approach fall and winter, we must consider whether additional measures are necessary, such as vaccine requirements for certain settings.”
Those settings could include restaurants and bars, entertainment settings where food is served, gyms and fitness facilities.
“We look at the risk level of the facilities. We know that masks reduce transmission, but when people must remove the mask to participate in the business, these protections are gone,” Director of Health and Human Services Kelly Colopy said.
Colopy assured the council that the Health Department was considering how vaccine mandates could potentially impact businesses. If mandates come into effect, businesses may have to hire extra personnel to check the validity of vaccine cards. Digital QR code readers may also be necessary in order to read digital vaccine records.
The City’s ability to enforce such a mandate will also be taken into consideration.
“We have hundreds of bars, restaurants, fitness and entertainment businesses,” she said. “And enforcement takes time and resources.”
Colopy said the department supports a regional or statewide approach, since consistency would “support understanding” among business groups and residents. Thus, the department will look to the Board of Supervisors before moving forward with a mandate.
Mayor Robert Garcia noted that, as of Tuesday, Aug. 24, 969 Long Beach residents had died of COVID-19.
Getting vaccinated is the best way to prevent severe illness from COVID-19. Of those vaccinated, only 0.34% of vaccinated persons have experienced a post-vaccine infection, according to the City’s Health Department. Only 0.008% of those vaccinated have died from COVID-19.
Vice Mayor Rex Richardson compared vaccinations to taking a pill to offset a heart attack.
“To me, wearing masks, getting the vaccination, that’s taking a pill to offset a massive cardiac arrest,” Richardson said. “If it keeps our economy from shutting down again, if it keeps us from being overwhelmed in our hospitals, then we should look at high traffic areas, sensitive areas. I will be supportive of mandates in those areas.”
