LA council moves to create vaccination requirements for indoor public spaces

The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to move toward creating vaccine requirements for indoor public spaces, part of aggressive measures being taken by state and local leaders to combat the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus.

The council’s 13-0 vote directed city attorneys to draft a law, but the specifics still remain unknown, The Los Angeles Times reported. Officials have to decide where the vaccine requirement would apply and how to enforce it.

Council President Nury Martinez and Councilman Mitch O’Farrell introduced the city proposal last week, which called for directing the city attorney to “prepare and present an ordinance that would require eligible individuals to have received at least one dose of vaccination to enter indoor spaces.”

The lawmakers said those locations include but are not limited to restaurants, bars, retail establishments, fitness centers, spas and entertainment centers such as stadiums, concert venues and movie theaters.

Once the details of the law are hashed out and the text is drafted, the council will vote on the proposal for final approval, the Times noted.

Martinez reacted to the proposal’s passage, writing on Twitter that the “decision to remain unvaccinated doesn’t just affect you–it affects us all.”

Today the Los Angeles City Council passed legislation to require proof of COVID-19 vaccinations for Angelenos to enter indoor public spaces. Your decision to remain unvaccinated doesn’t just affect you–it affects us all.

— Nury Martinez (@CD6Nury) August 11, 2021

O’Farrell sounded a similar note, saying in a statement that the proposal is “a necessary and sensible step that will broadly protect the health and safety of Angelenos.”

“It could very well ward off another economic shutdown, which would be devastating to our city and our nation,” he added.

Opponents of the policy, however, have criticized the requirement as overreaching, the Times reported. Some of those individuals have denounced the pandemic as a hoax or argued that the vaccines are harmful.

Others have aired concerns regarding the fact that the vaccine is only being distributed under emergency use authorization or pointed to the existence of “breakthrough infections,” which is what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls fully vaccinated people who test positive for COVID-19, to undermine the importance of the shots.

The vote came on the same day California became the first state to require that all teachers and staff in all school districts are either vaccinated against COVID-19 or agree to regular testing.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced the new policy, affecting teachers, custodial staff, bus drivers and anyone else working in schools, during a news conference at an elementary school in Oakland.

The moves in California are part of a broader effort by elected officials nationwide to enact tougher vaccination and testing policies to combat the delta variant, which is more transmissible than previous strains of the virus.

The delta variant, which is currently the dominant coronavirus strain in the U.S., has caused infections to skyrocket nationwide.

The U.S. is now seeing more than 100,000 new cases, a significant increase from the roughly 12,000 it was averaging per day in June, according to the CDC.

In California, cases are also on the rise. New infections are teetering around 10,000 per day, which is up from the roughly 1,000 daily new cases in June.

Health officials are specifically pushing vaccinations after studies have shown that the vast majority of recent COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths are among people who have not yet received their shots.