New York City’s mandate requiring people to point out proof of vaccination to eat indoors and hit the gym is like “extortion” and unconstitutional, a gaggle of local businesses argue during a new lawsuit getting to halt the policy.
The coalition of establishments, including an Italian restaurant on Staten Island and a Brooklyn gym, sued Mayor de Blasio and therefore the city in Staten Island Supreme Court, saying they’re unfairly targeted by the mandate that’s supported questionable science and devastating to their bottom line.
“This isn’t our responsibility to try to to the dirty work of the town ,” Robert DeLuca, owner of DeLuca’s Italian Restaurant on Staten Island , told the Daily News on Wednesday.
The mayor is “using extortion tactics to bully restaurants and other small businesses … to hold out what he basically wants to make as a two-tiered society — vaccinated and unvaccinated,” he added.
On Tuesday, the town began requiring establishments — from bars and restaurants to gyms and cultural venues — to see customers for proof of vaccination before allowing them to enter. Employees must be vaccinated, too. the town plans to start enforcing the new rules — aimed toward encouraging more New Yorkers to urge jabbed — next month.
But the lawsuit, supported by local pols including Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-S.I.), argues the companies in question were singled call at an “arbitrary and capricious” way. The complaint, filed Tuesday night, asks a judge to dam the mandate.
“There’s no scientific evidence to point out that their establishments transmit the virus … significantly quite other establishments,” lawyer Mark Fonte, who’s representing the plaintiffs, said of restaurants and gymnasiums .
“They aren’t being treated equally or fairly and this mandate arbitrarily selects restaurants and fitness centers for further enforcement,” he added.
The longer an individual interacts with others indoors, the upper the danger of getting COVID, consistent with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC puts indoor dining at bars and restaurants within the “highest risk” category for contracting the virus, compared with scenarios like curbside food pickup and outdoor dining.
De Blasio on Wednesday voiced “tremendous confidence” that the town would beat the lawsuit.
“The decisions that are taken, are crazy the leadership of our health officials who are fighting this battle from the start ,” he said at a news conference .
Along with arguing they’re being unfairly targeted, the plaintiffs say the mandate infringes on their right to earn a living.
Pointing to Health Department stats showing 62.9% of residents have received a minimum of one vaccine shot, DeLuca said he fears losing an enormous chunk of business.
“Is the town getting to are available and back me financially, until everyone’s vaccinated?” he said. “Is the town getting to structure for those losses? What about if I can’t pay all my employees?”