coronavirus

Bay Area Residents Will be Able to Attend Mega Events Without Proof of Vaccination

"I think we've gone through enough as a society and now its up to the individual"

NBC Universal, Inc.

As the world returns to normal, California will no longer require people to prove vaccination status to get into concerts, professional sports games and other mega events.

In the Bay Area, from Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View to SAP Center in San Jose, showing a vaccination card or a negative test will soon be a thing of the past.

Santa Clara County will align with the state's guidelines in April. San Francisco, Napa, Solano, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Marin and Sonoma counties will do the same.

"I think its about time," said San Jose resident George Mamashiani. "I think we've gone through enough as a society and now its up to the individual, if they want to show proof at this point."

Although attendees wont have to flash their vaccination card to get into a Warriors game at the Chase Center in San Francisco, unvaccinated fans will still be required to wear a mask.

But there are questions about how that would be enforced.

State health leaders say the change in requirements is a result of declining COVID cases and hospitalizations across California.

"If you're in San Francisco, for example, cases are very low in the order of 20 cases per 100,000 over last week," explained UCSF Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.

The new guidelines apply to all so-called mega events, which means indoor events with more than a thousand people or outdoor venues with more than 10 thousand..

Nikki Edwards, a San Jose mom, told NBC Bay Area a few months ago she wouldn't have felt comfortable going to a concert that didn't require showing proof of vaccination, but that has changed.

"Now as the numbers are going down, I feel is better," she said. "People can decide whether to protect themselves, so I feel good about it."

And with concert season ahead, some are already making plans to attend their first big event since the pandemic began.

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