Name: DeSantis’ ban of vaccine passports could lead to showdown with businesses in Florida
Brand: orlandosentinel.com
SKU: orlandosentinel-com-272
Availability: OnlineOnly

critic

DeSantis’ ban of vaccine passports could lead to showdown with businesses in Florida

preview

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelApr 15, 2021 at 8:00 amVaccination passports have become a new ideological battleground of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joining the fray by issuing an order banning their use by both local governments and businesses.But already, businesses ranging from cruise lines to sports teams have announced they’re planning to require some kind of proof of vaccination for entry into their ships or arenas.AdvertisementAnd with the Biden administration ruling out issuing federal passports, that means there could be a consequential showdown between the GOP governor and major national and international businesses.“Every business has economic and reputational incentives to ensure that they have a safe place of business,” said Joel Zinberg, a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington, D.C., which has studied the issue. “That’s partly to protect their own employees and to reduce absenteeism. And it’s also to provide the public with a reassurance that this is a safe place to patronize.”AdvertisementAs inoculations have increased and eligibility ages were lowered over the past few months, more countries have either announced plans to create vaccination passports or are considering it, ZInberg said. The European Union is planning to issue digital and paper “green certificates,” Japan and China plan on creating digital passports, and the United Kingdom also is working on them.At least 17 consortiums of private companies are also working on developing passport standards and shared software, Zinberg said, and one of the biggest companies in the country, Walmart, is already on board.But the idea almost instantly became wrapped up in the partisan culture war. Conservative media has condemned the idea as a violation of privacy.DeSantis soon jumped on board.On the same day he signed a bill protecting businesses from COVID-19 lawsuits last month, he announced he would sign an executive order banning vaccination passports. His order bans both local governments and businesses from issuing them, with the penalty of state grants being pulled if they do.“We’re not doing vaccine passports,” DeSantis said again last week. “What’s the next step? What’s the next thing that they’re going to want to do? I think it’s got profound privacy implications. ... It would be such a mistake to go down that road.”Since then, however, one business after another has announced they would require some proof of vaccination.Norwegian Cruise Lines was the first cruise line to indicate it would require such proof when the federal government allows it to sail in July, followed this week by Silversea Cruises.Advertisement“Cruise ships are closed environments where you’re going to have hundreds or thousands of people all together for a week or two at a time,” Zinberg said. “There’s no question that the cruise ship operators are going to want to reassure their customers that this is a safe place to be, particularly when you consider that some of the earliest outbreaks that we had last spring were on cruise ships.”DeSantis, who has sued the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention seeking to reopen the cruise industry, insisted he would not make an exception.“If you say, ‘Just let the cruises do it, no one else,’ it ain’t going to end there,” DeSantis said. “... We’re an 800-pound gorilla when it comes to tourism. And I think if we put our foot down, Florida can help lead the way yet again.”Opponents say DeSantis’ move against cruise lines, a major industry in Florida, will ultimately backfire.“Next to nursing homes, the cruise industry has had the worst headlines [and were] identified early on as deadly COVID breeding grounds,” said Gwen Graham, a former Democratic congresswoman and 2018 candidate for governor. “What Ron is doing runs counter to providing that sense of safety that will bring tens of millions of tourists back to Florida excited to go on their first or hundredth cruise.”Meanwhile, sports leagues and teams were also planning for vaccination passports as well. The Miami Heat had been proposing proof of vaccination for special seats closer to the court, but the South Florida Sun Sentinel reported Wednesday the plan was dropped because it was “an operational challenge.”AdvertisementThe Orlando Magic, meanwhile, will follow DeSantis’ order and currently don’t plan to have any vaccination requirements, chief communications director Joel Glass said.Outside of Florida, the Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres will start requiring proof of vaccination to attend games, and many other teams are reportedly considering following suit.“There’s no God-given right to attend a football game,” Mark Poloncarz, a government official in Erie County, New York, said at a news conference Tuesday, according to Forbes.Colleges and universities are also leaning into the trend. The private Nova Southeastern University in Broward County was among the first in the country to announce vaccination requirements for students, joined later by Rutgers, Brown, Cornell and Northeastern universities.But after DeSantis’ order, Nova Southeastern indicated it may back down, with President and CEO George Hanbury saying a group of experts would evaluate “how the executive order may affect our plans.”Restaurants, meanwhile, have been some of the biggest opponents of coronavirus restrictions in Florida and elsewhere. But a spokesman for Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, owner of Olive Garden and other national brands, said the company was not considering proof of vaccination to eat inside its restaurants.AdvertisementStill, it remains to be seen how many industries decide to go forward with it. The biggest question is what airlines and theme parks would do.Universal, Disney and SeaWorld all declined to comment if on the issue and whether the governor’s order would have any effect on them.A spokesperson for United Airlines said while the company doesn’t have vaccination requirements, it will soon allow customers to upload and store their vaccination records on its app and website to expedite travel to countries that do require them.Whether DeSantis’ order, as well as a similar one in Texas, would be enforceable against national and international corporations is unknown. But Zinberg argued the mandates don’t have much teeth within the states either.“Both Texas and Florida were done by executive orders of the governors,” Zinberg said. “These are not statutes. And there’s no sort of criminal liability for requiring a passport. And it’s not clear what sort of civil liability there would be, if any.”DeSantis asked the Legislature to turn his order into law. But despite rhetoric from Republican leaders, there doesn’t seem to be any hurry, even with the session scheduled to end April 30.AdvertisementState Sen. Joe Gruters filed an amendment last week that would have enacted the vaccination passport ban, but it was later withdrawn. Other GOP senators are looking for ways to add it into existing bills.WeeklyGet latest updates political news from Central Florida and across the state. &gt; State Senate President Wilton Simpson said he hasn’t heard from any business or industry asking for a carve-out or exemption. But he said that a system like the one the Heat had proposed could be acceptable.“We have certain freedoms in this country that shouldn’t be breached,” Simpson said. “...[But] I think that a private arrangement with businesses that say, ‘If you have it, we’ll give you VIP [treatment]’ is different from saying you have to have it to take a cruise. … But that would then be a private person with their private information disclosing it to that private business.”Asked why Republicans are in favor of restrictions on what private businesses can do, Simpson cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which prevents health care providers from releasing private medical information.“I believe requiring people to have a vaccine passport would go against the values of privacy,” Simpson said. “If I decide not to take the vaccine, it’s none of your business.”But many experts argue passports wouldn’t violate HIPAA, since businesses such as cruise lines and sports teams aren’t health care providers.Advertisement“The reality is, there’s no federal, statutory, regulatory or constitutional bar to that happening as long as it’s applied in a non-discriminatory manner,” Zinberg said.Staff writers Gabrielle Russon and Austin Fuller contributed to this report. slemongello@orlandosentinel.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Orlando SentinelApr 15, 2021 at 8:00 amVaccination passports have become a new ideological battleground of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis joining the fray by issuing an order banning their use by both local governments and businesses.But already, businesses ranging from cruise lines to sports teams have announced they’re planning to require some kind of proof of vaccination for entry into their ships or arenas.AdvertisementAnd with the Biden administration ruling out issuing federal passports, that means there could be a consequential showdown between...

DeSantis’ ban of vaccine passports could lead to showdown with businesses in Florida

No article scores yet.

CRITIC REVIEWS

PUBLIC REVIEWS