New York City Coronavirus Inspector Denied Entry for Failing to Show Vaccine Card: ‘You’re Not Above the Law’

A restaurant turned down a coronavirus mandate inspector in New York City — which has the vaccine passport program, Key to NYC Pass, in full effect — after she ironically failed to show proof of vaccination.

The incident occurred this week at South Shore’s Big Nose Kate’s, where the inspector attempted to enter the facility without showing her own proof of vaccination, which indoor restaurants are required to ask for in the city.

Maggie Koronilian, manager of the saloon, said, adding that she brought the forms to the inspector outside:

She shows me her badge and says, ‘I’m here to do a COVID inspection. I said, ‘May I see your vax card? Everyone who comes in here has to show me the cards. So she said, ‘Well, I’m not staying here but this is what I’m checking for.’ I said, ‘No, you can’t be in here.’

“I have my notices on the door so I am 100 percent in compliance and doing everything to the ‘T’ the way they want it. I told her, ‘You’re not above the law. You have to show me just like everybody else. There’s no exception,'” she said.

“She asked what law I was talking about and I pointed to the signs we have hung on the front. I said, ‘This ********,'” she added:

If I have to enforce these stupid mandates on my customers, then it’s going to get enforced on agencies that come in here to check these things. It’s my rule. I want everybody that walks in here — regardless if they’re staying or not — to show a vaccination card.

Advance/SILive.com reached out to the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) inquiring if the employee was vaccinated and asking if inspectors are also required to show proof of vaccination:

A spokesman responded in an email, “Employees of the City of New York are required to be vaccinated, and health inspectors interacting with the public are vaccinated against COVID-19. Key2NYC requires that patrons show proof of vaccination upon entering an establishment.

When asked again specifically if the employee herself was vaccinated, the spokesman reiterated the point that all health inspectors are vaccinated. He pointed to verbiage in the Key2NYC mandate that the DOHMH reps wear face coverings and are not patrons.