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Pre-pandemic tourism brought New York City billions every year. To try and get things rolling again, the mayor is offering vaccinations to tourists to boost the city’s economy!
He is optimistic for “the summer of New York City.” He wants to open businesses and transportation to full capacity. But this could present some issues.
Fully reopening without enough safety precautions puts service workers at risk, and Black New Yorkers are far overrepresented in many positions at highest risk of contracting COVID-19.
Less than half of Americans are fully vaccinated, and 25% fully refuse to ever get the vaccine – and with the disappearance of mask mandates, service workers are the most vulnerable.
Several New York business owners have expressed being reluctant to reopen because of COVID risks but desperately needing to because they’re running out of money.
Tourism means jobs, which seems good – but it doesn’t mean higher wages, and the lack of COVID precautions being taken means workers still have to balance the risk to their health with their financial struggles. Businesses are cleaning surfaces and buying dividers, when these are inadequate and don’t do much to prevent COVID-19 spread.
Service worker’s lives are more important than NYC’s tourism dollars. We should be optimizing the safety of employees, not just the profit of the city’s businesses!