Mayor Eric Adams exempted New York City athletes and performers from the cities’ COVID-19 mandate on Thursday, following weeks of push back from the sports community. The rule kept Brooklyn Nets super star, Kyrie Irving from playing in 35 home games this season. The Nets need him as they push for a playoff spot with nine games left in the regular season. The mandate was expected to stop several baseball players from taking the field on April 7, opening day in their upcoming season as well.
Mayor Adams, speaking at Citi Field, home of the Mets, was joined by executives from the Yankees and the Mets, stated that he had signed the order. The exemption was effective immediately.
“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” he said. Adams also prefaced his announcement by saying: “I’m going to make some tough choices. People are not going to agree with some of them. I must move this city forward. “Generals lead from the front. I was not elected to be fearful, but to be fearless.”
Adams believes that making the athletes and performers exempt was important for the city’s economic recovery, saying that “players attract people to the stadium.”
Adams had said he felt the vaccine rule was unfair when it came to athletes and performers because a loophole in the measure, imposed under his predecessor, Mayor Bill de Blasio, allowed visiting players and performers who don’t work in New York to still play or perform even if they are unvaccinated.
Irving, who is unvaccinated, had been among the most high-profiled people impacted. He joined the team in January, but only for road games. When New York relaxed some of the restrictions several weeks ago, like requiring a vaccine to dine in a restaurant, work out at a gym or attend a performance, Irving was allowed to attend the Nets’ home games, but not to play or enter the locker room. Irving did enter the locker room after a game vs. the New York Knicks and the franchise was fined $50 thousand. Irving also attended the ACC Championship game between Duke and Virginia at the Barclays Center.
Concerns have also been raised about how the mandate would impact baseball. New York Yankees’ star, right fielder Aaron Judge, refused to answer a question about his vaccine status earlier this month, leading to speculations that another New York team would be hampered by a players’ refusal to get inoculated. When asked Wednesday about the rule being lifted, Judge said he was “happy Kyrie can play some home games.”
The creation of special exemptions for athletes or entertainers could potentially lead to court challenges arguing the city isn’t applying the law evenly.
