Bay Area county requires COVID vaccine or test to be indoors - Los Angeles Times
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Contra Costa County orders COVID-19 vaccine proof or negative test for indoor restaurants, gyms

A man wearing a mask at a gym
Reese Bacon waits to check in for his reservation to work out at a 24 Hour Fitness gym in San Francisco.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
By Rong-Gong Lin IIStaff Writer 
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Another Bay Area county is requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test to enter many indoor establishments.

Contra Costa County on Tuesday issued a mandate that customers of indoor restaurants, bars and gyms must show proof of full vaccination or a negative coronavirus test result before entering.

The requirement will apply to everyone 12 and older. The order in the San Francisco Bay Area’s third-most populous county, where more than 1 million people live, goes into effect Sept. 22.

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Workers will be subject to a similar requirement starting Nov. 1; if they are not vaccinated, they will need to be tested weekly.

The order applies to businesses serving food or drinks indoors, including theaters and other entertainment venues, and fitness facilities, including yoga and dance studios.

“We want to keep Contra Costa County businesses open and safe. Places where people remove masks to eat and drink indoors and where people breathe heavily during exercise increase the risk of COVID-19 spreading,†Contra Costa Health Services said in a statement.

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Teachers rally at a demonstration against COVID-19 vaccination mandates, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021, in New York. A growing number of communities are moving to require teachers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as part of aggressive campaigns to ward off the delta variant, which has infected hundreds of thousands of children in the United States. While some school districts are allowing teachers to opt out of vaccine requirements with weekly testing, New York City, Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis have taken tougher stances by limiting exemptions to bona fide medical and religious reasons. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

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‘Religious’ exemptions add legal thorns to looming vaccination mandates

No major religions denounce vaccination. That hasn’t kept individual churches from providing religious “cover†for those seeking to avoid jabs.

Other local governments in California have issued similar orders.

San Francisco and Berkeley require customers 12 and older to show proof of vaccination to enter indoor bars, restaurants, clubs, gyms and large indoor events; a negative coronavirus test is not allowed as an alternative.

West Hollywood on Oct. 11 will require patrons 18 and older to show proof they are fully vaccinated to enter indoor restaurants, bars, clubs, theaters and gyms, as well as personal care establishments, including barbershops, nail salons and tanning services.

Palm Springs has ordered patrons 12 and older to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a recent negative coronavirus test to enter indoor restaurants and bars.

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Rong-Gong Lin II

Rong-Gong Lin II is a Metro reporter based in San Francisco who specializes in covering statewide earthquake safety issues and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Bay Area native is a graduate of UC Berkeley and started at the Los Angeles Times in 2004.

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