Boston Lifts Proof Of Vaccine Requirement Effective Immediately
BOSTON (CBS) - Right in the middle of Friday's dinner rush, Boston restaurants and patrons gave a cheers to change. Mayor Michelle Wu announced indoor businesses no longer need to see proof of vaccination.
"We took down the mandate posters, we told our staff. It's one less thing we have to manage on a day-to-day basis. We can focus on our guests. It's so uplifting to hear these things," said Casey Furtaw at Sonsie.
Boston just fell below the third metric it needed to hit before restrictions could be loosened.
"I think it's good for people to feel like progress is being made. If certain benchmarks are met than I think it's good for constraints to change. Otherwise, it begins to feel like what can we possibly do to get beyond this?" Mark Erelli said.
"It feels normal now honestly. Not worrying you have to have it on you, or having to have your phone ready with the picture," said student Andrew Cooper.
It wasn't easy for businesses to implement, but some customers admit it did help them feel safer.
"I'm so used to having to show so much proof everywhere I go. It's definitely a change which is a little bit nerve-wracking but mostly I feel it's really exciting," said Uma Bhuju.
And those who've have had no problem presenting their cards, point out it took a lot of effort to get us here.
"I think it's reasonable to start to tread into that water of okay let's see how this goes, with the caveat that if numbers go back up, we have to band together as a community and do the right thing and get vaccinated and show our cards and wear our masks and protect our kids," said Polly Mathewson.
Public health data reported on Friday shows Boston has a 4.0% community positivity rate; 90.7% occupancy rate of adult ICU beds, and a 7-day average of adult COVID-19 hospitalizations at 195.9 per day.
The city says the Boston Public Health Commission will review the mask requirements in the coming days, but for now those remain in effect.
