Cafes and restaurants are at the front line of possible “vaccine theatre”
New Brunswick’s new vaccine passport system came into effect Wednesday, meaning that people are now required to be fully vaccinated before entering non-essential services like cafes, bars, restaurants, gyms and cinemas.
Indoor concerts, sports events, and organized gatherings like wedding and funerals will have the same stipulation. Churches and faith-based groups are exempt from the rule, instead being required to prove that they have surveyed their members, and achieved a 90% vaccination rate among them.
The system is not honour-based, like current border rules, which require people travelling into New Brunswick to register in advance, but with no enforcement or government presence at border crossings.
In the case of vaccine passports, businesses like Sackville cafe The Black Duck are being asked to actively screen their customers, requiring a government issued ID and a proof of vaccination.
That has Black Duck co-owner Al Barbour concerned about a few things: training his employees to do the screening, having enough staff to do it, and also the possibility that even vaccinated customers will be discouraged from stopping in for coffee or a meal.
Barbour says he’s been trying to prepare the Black Duck for their new obligation to screen customers, but feels the process is still unclear.
“It’s one thing to say we should be checking for that people are fully vaccinated,” says Barbour, “but how do we do that?… Continue