In Contra Costa County, restaurants, gyms no longer need to verify customers’ vaccination status

Restaurants and gyms in Contra Costa County no longer will have to verify the vaccination status or recent negative COVID-19 test results of their customers after the county reached its targeted vaccination goal, health officials said Friday.

The decision to lift the requirement came as health officials announced that 80% of its residents have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and its variants.

“We believe now is the right time to loosen a requirement that made a lot of sense last summer when a different variant of COVID-19 was dominant and there was less community immunity,” Dr. Ori Tzvieli, the county’s acting health officer, said in a statement. “But by no means are we back to normal. There are still many more cases of COVID-19 in our community now than there were in mid-December, so we need to continue to take precautions when we go out.”

The county’s latest data Friday showed that 271 people were hospitalized for COVID-19, including 57 in intensive-care units. On Dec. 15, there were 28 patients with COVID-19 and eight were in the ICU. The numbers have risen with the spread of the Omicron variant.

The verification order applied to businesses where people remove face coverings to eat or drink indoors. It went into effect last September and required those businesses to verify their customers had been fully vaccinated or tested negative within the previous three days. Indoor workers also were required to show proof of vaccination or test daily.

The lifting of the order now leaves that decision to the individual business.

“We deeply appreciate everyone who has chosen to vaccinate,” county Health Director Anna Roth said in the same statement. “You have made yourself, your loved ones and the entire community safer.”

Health officials continued to urge everyone who is elgibile to take the vaccine to do so. According to county data, the daily COVID-19 case rate for county residents is three times lower for those who are fully vaccinated. Those who are unvaccinated are hospitalized about nine times more often than those who have gotten all their shots, officials said.

Workplace vaccine verification requirements remain in place for healthcare workers, first responders, and congregate care workers, as does a requirement for most people to wear face coverings in most indoor public spaces.