Hundreds of SF bars now requiring proof of vaccination or COVID-19 test

ByJ.R. Stone KGO logo

Friday, July 30, 2021

Hundreds of SF bars now requiring proof of vaccination

Hundreds of San Francisco bars are now requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a COVID-19 test if you would like to go inside.

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Hundreds of San Francisco bars, part of the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, are now requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a COVID-19 test if you would like to go inside.

"Just going to need to see your vaccination card and ID," says the bouncer at The Alembic In San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury District, a bar and restaurant that has been requiring proof of vaccinations to go inside since June 15th. Something hundreds of other San Francisco bars just started doing Thursday.

"Most of the time, I want to say probably say 80-85% of the time people are very compliant and more than happy to provide proof, very excited, and feel very secure and safe in our space," says Kathryn Kulczyk who is the general manager at The Alembic. She warns that there have been some tense moments.

"We've had people berate our door person, basically ask if we're also vaccinated. We've had people call us Nazis on Yelp. We've had people saying we're violating the HIPPA Act. We've had people say we're violating the Nuremberg Law, which is interesting. We've been threatened to have people cough on us and spit on us so it's been challenging to say the least, and people take it very personal," says Kuczyk whose small staff of eight is fully vaccinated. She says some of her staff is immunocompromised with long-term health conditions that make COVID-19 that much more concerning.

Many bar patrons we talked with like the requirement.

"I have to question if those people actually live in San Francisco," said Andrew Bosco when referencing those who gave the staff a hard time.

"I was just traveling through the Southwest and no one was doing anything like this so yeah it does make me feel a little safer for sure," says Robert Rogers.

But not all bars are requiring proof of vaccination. Hundreds are, but many others are not.

"We're not doing a requirement yet, not until it's a law," says bartender Nick Cortez of the Haight Street bar Murio's who went on to say, "Just because of personal freedoms, you can still come in and drink and wear your mask if you're not vaccinated, that's fine."

We asked Cortez for his thoughts on proof of vaccination bars.

"I kind of feel like there is a small handful of people that would look for that, but not everybody, a lot of people are over all the COVID madness," said Cortez.

One thing is for sure, you will still have vaccinated or unvaccinated options when you come to drink in San Francisco.

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