Starting Today, No Vaccine Proof, No Entry to Newark Buildings or Businesses

Photo Credit:  Shutterstock                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Newark Mayor Ras Baraka signed an Executive Order on December 27 mandating proof of vaccination in order to enter certain businesses in the Brick City.  That Order took effect today….and it pertains to just about everything.  If you plan to enter restaurants, bars, sporting venues, gyms, concert halls, banquet facilities, and shared work/business facilities, you’d better be vaccinated because you now must show proof in order to enter.

So, make sure to keep your vaccination card handy, or else you’ll be prohibited from entering the building.  This goes for anyone at least five years of age.  You’ll have to show proof of at least one vaccine and be fully vaccinated three weeks later.

Heading to NJ PAC, the Prudential Center, your favorite health care club…it doesn’t matter.  No proof of vaccination…no entrance!!

There are exceptions to the Executive Order, however.  Churches, temples, hospitals, although they probably have their own guidelines, your neighborhood grocery stores and pharmacies, homeless shelters, polling places for elections and the hardware store do not apply to the rule.  These places do not need to see proof of vaccination.

In addition, people who have strict religious beliefs and those who have not been vaccinated due to a specific medical condition are exempt from the rule.  Oh, and if you’re just going inside a restaurant to pick up a take-out order, well, you don’t have to show proof of vaccination either.

All of these rules and exceptions in Mayor Baraka’s Executive Order kind of make one question how in the world this can be adhered to on a regular basis.

Just as Newark’s vaccine mandate became law today, the state of New Jersey, unfortunately, surpassed 6,000 hospitalizations of patients with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 for the first time since April 2020.

As of yesterday, the New Jersey Department of Health reported 6,075 COVID-19 patients, the state’s highest mark since April 30, 2020.  New Jersey’s publicly available data for COVID-19 hospitalizations go back to April 28, 2020.   That’s when the number peaked at 6,253.

There has been a sharp spike in patients on ventilators in New Jersey.   Statistics show the numbers rising from 61 back on November 9 to 474 as of Sunday.   This is New Jersey’s largest number of people on ventilators since Jan. 4, 2021.

And the stats continue to become more alarming the deeper you dig.  Of the COVID-19 patients hospitalized as of yesterday, 843 were in intensive care.  That’s New Jersey’s highest number of COVID-19 patients in the ICU since May 21, 2020.

Cases among hospital staff continue to increase as well.  State health officials report 3,099 hospital staff testing positive for the virus from last Tuesday to Sunday.

According to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services statistics, Hudson County COVID patients occupied 14.04 percent of hospital beds and 24.44 percent of ICU beds for the final week of December.