SF bars could require COVID-19 vax or negative test to enter starting Thursday

A bartender at Wipeout Bar & Grill makes cocktails that have paper straws on June 21, 2018 in San Francisco, California.
A bartender at Wipeout Bar & Grill makes cocktails that have paper straws on June 21, 2018 in San Francisco, California. Photo credit Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

You might want to bring your COVID-19 vaccination card with you if you’re planning a night on the town in San Francisco.

A group representing over 300 city bars and more than 500 owners has decided to require proof of vaccination – either a QR code or vaccination card – or a 72-hour negative COVID-19 test from customers who want to drink indoors. The San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance had previously said the group was considering the policy.

Things had been going well in general for San Francisco bars over the last couple of months, but a disturbing trend has developed recently.

"We started to notice that staff members at different bars around town…who were vaccinated were coming down with the delta variant of the coronavirus," Ben Bleiman, owner of Tonic and founder of the San Francisco Bar Owner Alliance, told KCBS Radio on Monday.

Bleiman said cases have been mild, but they were concerning enough to prompt the alliance to take an official stance on potential customers’ vaccination status.

Each establishment is free to choose whether it wants to adopt this policy when it takes effect on Thursday.

Nikki DeWald, owner of Blondie’s in the Mission District, started only allowing vaccinated customers inside a week before the alliance’s policy is set to be implemented. Unvaccinated patrons were allowed to sit outside in a parklet.

"At first, it looked like were losing a lot of business because people were walking away," DeWald told KCBS Radio. "But that was the worst of it. I think a lot of people felt a second layer of protection knowing that everybody inside was vaccinated."

Other bar owners are more hesitant.

The co-owner of Gino and Carlo in North Beach told KCBS Radio the bar will wait and see before requiring proof of vaccination.
The co-owner of Gino and Carlo in North Beach told KCBS Radio the bar will wait and see before requiring proof of vaccination. Photo credit Melissa Culross/KCBS Radio

Michael "Spike" Krouse, owner of Madrone Art Bar north of the Panhandle, said in a statement to KCBS Radio he will require proof of vaccination, but he worries about pushback. Krouse said he has seen other bars inundated with bad Yelp reviews for requiring proof of vaccination.

Frank Rossi co-owns Gino and Carlo in North Beach, and he told KCBS Radio the bar will wait and see before requiring proof of vaccination.

"We have to wait and see," Rossi told KCBS Radio when asked if he was worried customers would push back. "But we have some people in here that have strong opinions, so I would anticipate there’d be a few."

Bars that already require indoor customers to be vaccinated include Vesuvio, which is a few blocks away from Gino and Carlo, as well as the Make Out Room in the Mission.

It’s not clear if restaurants will pursue a similar path.

While San Francisco boasts a very high vaccination rate at 76% of those eligible having both doses, the rest of California lags behind at 60% of eligible residents. Many Bay Area counties and the City of Berkeley have already moved to recommend masks indoors, but stopped short of mandating the move.

Other California cities like Los Angeles have reinstated indoor masking mandates.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images