Why this Seattle business owner is ‘ecstatic’ about King County’s new vaccine rule

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan says local businesses have already led the way on measures like proof of vaccination requirements to fight the pandemic.

Carla Leonardi owns one such store, Cafe Lago in Seattle’s Montlake neighborhood.

Leonardi says she was “ecstatic,” even “euphoric,” when she first learned that Seattle and King Counties would require their guests to have a vaccination certificate or a recent negative test result.

It is a rule that she and her employees have been enforcing on their own since the beginning of August. A number of bars and restaurants in the Seattle area even require customers to show proof of vaccination.

“We were a little worried about the legal implications if someone got mad at us and might take us to court,” she says. “But we did it anyway and we did it anyway. So it’s really great to have the support of the county.”

RELATED: King County Requires Proof of Vaccination at Bars, Restaurants, and More

However, she notes that other local small business owners were unwilling to take this plunge alone. Leonardi heard that some lawyers even advised companies not to implement their own guidelines in order to avoid risk.

But for them it was a choice between accepting the risk and keeping their employees safe.

“My employees, they were the impetus for this. It was they who came to me,” she says. “You were more than ready to do it … otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”

King County Vaccination Certificate

King County’s new rule, effective October 25th for most indoor restaurants and other non-essential indoor businesses such as gyms and theaters, and events with more than 500 attendees. Small restaurants with seating for 12 or fewer guests are not required to comply until December 6th.

There’s a kink for customers who may not be okay with the policy. King County does not require companies to verify vaccination records with a customer’s ID. Individual companies can choose to take this additional step; Leonardi says she hasn’t gone that far yet.

“There’s room for someone who can cheat,” she admits. “But we assume that our customers deal with us directly.”

The state is working on an app to streamline this process – for both individuals and businesses – that could go live later this month or early October before King County’s requirement goes into effect.

Most of her customers weren’t an issue anyway, she says. You’ve been following this rule for the last month with little complaint.

And people who feel particularly outraged about the rule can simply proactively remove themselves from the situation.

Customer response

Apart from one Facebook user who left a “colorful” swear word on Cafe Lago’s Facebook page, Leonardi said that the response was almost entirely positive.

Two angry people who claimed to have been loyal customers emailed Leonardi by Friday morning. They weren’t particularly “hideous”, however.

She read one for Angela King, host of the Morning Edition of KUOW, which you can listen to below.

Dear Café Lago …

Dear Café Lago …

One of these people mainly caught their attention because “they are not against the VAX, they are against showing me your card”. The author claimed to be vaccinated.

They also wrote, “Your support for a submission bill is not your job or your place, but it is your choice.”

However, Leonardi says it is exactly her job and place. She is not alone with this feeling.

Business reaction

In a statement to KUOW, the President and CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, Jon Scholes, fully supports the measure.

“We are in a really strong position as a city and county,” he says. “And if these mandates help us to achieve over 90 percent [of eligible people vaccinated against Covid-19]then they are good. Because vaccinations are the only way to put an end to this pandemic and move forward as a community. “

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan expects this to be the sentiment of many businesses in her city.

We will give a vaccine mandate from October 25th. known with @KingCountyWA. Although we generally have high vaccination rates and low case numbers + deaths, a mandate is best to limit the spread, help businesses stay open, and keep people safe. We must act boldly now for a better tomorrow.

– Mayor Jenny Durkan (@MayorJenny) September 16, 2021

The new regulation is enforced in the same way as the mask requirement: on the basis of customer complaints and starting with training for entrepreneurs before it escalates to fines. However, some say the new rule puts the burden of both verifying and containing the spread of the virus on some more than others.

Anthony Anton is President and CEO of the Washington Hospitality Association. In a statement to KUOW, he said the county’s rule creates different standards for different types of businesses.

“The data shows without a doubt that Covid is spreading everywhere and any policy to reduce the spread must apply equally everywhere,” he argues. “Anything other than that means using our industry – by far the hardest hit – as a carrot for the small percentage of people in King County who did not want to be vaccinated.”

RELATED: What “Crisis Care” Could Look Like If Hospitals In WA With Covid Patients Rise?

Melissa Miranda, owner of Musang in Beacon Hill, says the rule could even improve the playing field by eliminating the element of surprise for customers.

Like Leonardi, she asked weeks ago that guests get vaccinated or provide evidence of a negative Covid test. Unvaccinated walk-ins may instead be asked to bring you with you, with a few exceptions made for medical reasons.

“We actually posted [an announcement about our requirement] on all of our social media platforms and why, “she says.” It’s also on our website. It’s like the first thing you see before you make a reservation … it’s more than a place you see it’s needed. So the guests can really, really feel that they have all the information. “

Once the rule is implemented nationwide, business owners like her can really, really know that this is the case.