New York City eases COVID vaccine mandate for pro-athletes, performers

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that New York City’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate will be lifted for pro-athletes and performers.
• The change will allow professional athletes including Kyrie Irving to play for the Nets.
• This also means unvaccinated Mets and Yankees players can now play again in New York City.

Mayor Eric Adams lifted New York City’s Covid vaccination mandate. The change will now allow unvaccinated Nets star Kyrie Irving to play at the Barclay’s Center.

The announcement also means that unvaccinated Mets and Yankees players can now play at home.

Adams announced the change in a press conference at Citi Field on Thursday.

The new guidelines include The Nets’ Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, the Mets’ Citi Field in Queens and Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, home to both the Knicks and the Rangers.

Yankees’ Aaron Judge, who is suspected to be unvaxxed, can now play for the Bombers against Boston Red Sox at home on April 7. It will be the opening day of the 2022 season of Major League Baseball.

On April 15, the Mets will face Arizona Diamondbacks.

Adams also eased vaccination requirements for celebrities performing at MSG and theaters on Broadway.

On Dec. 27, businesses in NYC were mandated to require their employees to get Covid vaccines.

Unvaccinated Irving was barred from playing in home games since then.

However, visiting players are allowed to play because their employers aren’t based in NYC.

Adams recently downplayed local sports fans’ concerns that the vaccine mandate could affect New York’s pro teams.

“Everyone that’s focusing on a sports area, they’re focusing on one person. I’m focused on 9 million people,” he said.

“And so, I am not looking at one person, I’m looking at my city not closing down again, not having to deal with this crisis again.”

On Wednesday, Adams said that “the name of the game is that we were not going to be heavy-handed with the private-sector mandate.”

“We want people to get back into office spaces, and we’re asking those who are the head of their companies to make sure that they create a safe environment for their employees,” Adams said during an unrelated news conference in Brooklyn,

Source: New York Post