2 Oakland Dining Spots to Require Proof of COVID Vaccination or Negative Test Results
OAKLAND (KPIX) -- As the COVID-19 Delta variant spreads among the unvaccinated, two restaurants -- Palmetto and Kon Tiki -- in Oakland will start refusing service to those without a shot. The requirement is expected to be fully in place in just a week and a half.
Beginning Aug. 2, if you want to sit at a table like this without a mask at Palmetto, you will now need a proof of vaccination.
The restaurant owner says it's to protect customers and his staff.
Thursday night at Palmetto on Telegraph, diners already started complying with the new requirement to show their vaccine cards.
"I think this is not only making us feel safe but them feel safe and I think it's a good thing," said Mona Personius.
Matt Reagan, the co-owner of Palmetto said his decision to require vaccinations wasn't an easy one.
"We're going to turn some people away and we're prepared for that," Reagan added.
Reagan said restaurants have been put in the position of setting the table for safe COVID practices.
"We had to be mask enforcers and we're going to have to be vaccine enforcers and lets reward the people that are being responsible," Reagan said.
With coronavirus cases spiking in Alameda County, Reagan has already seen a decline in business but, after the announcement, he welcomed nearly a packed house full of supporters of the new requirement.
"We need to move on as a society from this doldrums that we are in and ultimately if it means that other people need to be left at the front door until they make the right move, then that's what needs to happen," said Brandon Crisler from Oakland.
"I had to put (proof of vaccination) on file to go to work," said a diner named Liz Berman. "I have no problems putting it on file for this either. If it makes the employees feel safer, that's important to me."
