Six weeks after it was first approved, San Jose's mayor is proposing an end to a mandate requiring guests at city-owned facilities to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and a booster.
Sam Liccardo proposed legislation on Thursday that would direct the San Jose City Manager and City Attorney to "deem the booster mandate expired for public entry" to events with 50 or more attendees at city-owned facilities like SAP Center. The city would "continue with existing testing requirements, as mandated under state law," according to Liccardo's memo to the city council.
"The booster mandate served its purpose during the omicron surge, by encouraging attendees and visitors in public buildings to protect themselves and each other during the period when our ICUs faced the greatest stress of rising hospitalizations," Liccardo said in a press release announcing the proposal on Thursday. "While this surge has run its course, we must remain vigilant about the next one."
California requires attendees at indoor events with 1,000 or more people to provide proof of completing a one- or two-dose COVID-19 vaccination series at least two weeks before the event, or proof of a negative COVID-19 test within two days of it.
Although he wrote that "evidence remains overwhelming about the efficacy and safety of boosters," Liccardo's proposal to lift the booster mandate cited federal research showing the "effectiveness of boosters does diminish with time."
"Accordingly, maintaining a mandate for boosters some five or six months after their first administration leaves us making distinctions without a substantial difference for the health risks posed to or by any one attendee in a public venue," Liccardo wrote in the memo.
More than 90% of San Jose's vaccine-eligible residents have received at least two doses, according to Liccardo's memo. Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose and is expected to lift its public indoor mask mandate next week, has fully vaccinated 90.2% of eligible residents and 84.7% of all residents. Sixty-eight percent of county residents who are at least 12 years old have received a booster dose, according to the county.
SAP Center – home of the NHL's San Jose Sharks – as well as City Hall, the city's libraries, its public theaters and the Center for the Performing Arts are all included in the city's current mandate, which Liccardo proposed in December and touted at the time as the state's first. The ordinance was approved on Jan. 11, giving venues until Feb. 4 to start enforcing it.
Liccardo proposed the new legislation a day after Sharks Sports & Entertainment CEO Jonathan Becher told reporters that "by far the biggest issue affecting attendance" at Sharks games this season were COVID-19 vaccine and mask mandates, rather than the team's middling performance. Sharks Sports and Entertainment operates the arena, while the Sharks are SAP Center's primary tenant.
The Sharks, who are at risk of missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs a third consecutive season for the first time in franchise history, have announced a nightly average of slightly more than 12,000 tickets sold through the first 25 home games this season, excluding Thursday night's contest against the New York Islanders. That would be the lowest of any average since the team moved to SAP Center in 1993.
A Sharks Sports & Entertainment spokesperson told KCBS Radio in an email that the company has held "consistent conversations" with county and city officials about local health orders, "including recent conversations as to when the directives might be adjusted to mirror neighboring cities and counties."
"Our conversations have always been collaborative, informative and professional," the spokesperson said.
Liccardo's office didn't respond to an emailed request for comment about the city's conversations with the Sharks prior to publication.
The San Jose City Council's rules committee is set to vote on the mayor's proposal in a 2 p.m. meeting on March 2. Should the committee vote to approve it, the city council could vote on the proposal in its March 8 meeting.
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