City Hall Scoop

The Health Officer Order has been modified to align with President Biden’s national strategy, including some targeted vaccine requirements to ensure we continue to lower transmission rates and protect each other.

The HOO update includes requirements for all attendees at indoor mega events- events with 1,000 or more attendees indoors and include, conventions, conferences, expos, concerts, shows, nightclubs, sporting events, live entertainment, and festivals- to show proof of full vaccination or a negative test result prior to entry. Self-attestation can no longer be used to verify an attendee’s status as fully vaccinated or as proof of a negative COVID-19 test result.

Acceptable proof of vaccination status includes a photo identification with any one of the following:

• CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card (white card)
• World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine record card (yellow card)
• California Department of Public Health (CDPH) COVID-19 digital vaccination record
• Other COVID-19 digital vaccination record issued by an approved company
• Documentation of vaccination from the healthcare provider or entity that provided the COVID-19 vaccines
• California Immunization Registry (CAIR2) vaccination record

The vaccination proof should include the person’s name, type of COVID-19 vaccine, and the date of the doses administered. The person can show the vaccination card, a photo of the card as a separate document, or a photo of the card stored on a phone or electronic device.

Acceptable proof of a negative test includes a photo identification with testing results that must include the person’s name, type of COVID-19 viral test performed, and negative test result. The date when the COVID-19 test was taken must be within the 72 hours prior to the event. The test results can be a printed copy or on a phone, including an email or text message results from the test provider or laboratory.

For more information, visit publichealth.lacounty.gov.

The Los Angeles County Health Officer Order was modified to require vaccination verification or a negative test prior to entry to all mega events and event venues by October 7; children under 12 years of age are exempt.

The requirement for vaccine verification or a negative test within 72 hours prior to attending an outdoor mega event aligns with the recently announced national strategy and includes venues and events with more than 10,000 attendees that are ticketed and/or have controlled points of entry to a well-defined area, such as sport and music arenas and theme parks.

This is similar to the requirement for vaccination verification or a negative test prior to entry at all indoor events and arenas with more than 1,000 participants; this requirement has been in place since August 18. Many mega event venues established verification systems during the spring in response to previous capacity restrictions and Public Health will offer large venues and organizers of mega events technical assistance to assist with implementation.

The Health Officer Order also requires vaccination verification for customers and employees at indoor portions of bars, lounges, nightclubs, breweries, wineries, and distilleries.

The requirement for vaccine verification for customers in the indoor portions of bars, wineries, breweries, distilleries, nightclubs, and lounges and their employees applies to drinking establishments with either no restaurant permit or a low-risk restaurant permit and requires that all customers and employees have at least one dose of the vaccine by October 7 and full vaccination by November 4.

These establishments primarily serve adults and already require patrons to show proof of age; and while children do not usually enter these establishments, children under 12 are exempt from these requirements. Full vaccination verification for services in the indoor portions of restaurants is strongly recommended.

We in public health believe that targeted vaccination mandates are an important strategy for quickly raising vaccination coverage in our county and ending the pandemic, and we applaud our President, our Governor, our Board of Supervisors, our cities and school districts, and business establishments across the county for creating additional safety in spaces where people are intermingling with the use of targeted vaccination mandates. As evidence mounts affirming the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, vaccination mandates are an increasingly important tool to prevent future COVID surges that cause widespread suffering. The modified Health Officer Order aligns with the continued need to reduce risk for transmission and increase vaccination coverage; this is a reasonable path forward that can position us to be better able to break the cycle of surges.

Several resources for businesses have been created to provide guidance in order to prepare for the new Health Officer Order to go in to effect.

• Learn how to verify proof of a negative COVID-19 Test
• Learn how to verify proof of COVID-19 vaccination