Locked Down Then - Locked Out Now
Restaurants are banning the unvaccinated, more of whom are people of color
After struggling to survive the lockdowns of 2020, over 100 restaurants in greater Portland, Oregon are now turning away customers if they can’t produce proof of COVID-19 vaccination. And some of these customers are the same people who ordered takeout and kept these restaurants afloat in the early days of the pandemic. Nice way to thank them, eh?
Even the most ardent supporters of the jabs admit they don’t prevent infection or transmission of the virus. So who are these restaurants protecting? We know vaccinated people can catch COVID and we know vaccinated customers can spread it. We know vaccinated people can carry viral loads as high or higher than unvaccinated people.
You could argue that unvaccinated customers are at higher risk of contracting severe disease, but that doesn’t explain why they should be barred from a public place. That’s a risk they assume, and the restaurants bear no liability.
This is a case of the blind catering to the blind. A shocking number of people have drunk the Kool Aid and believe they are safer being around vaccinated people. These delusions have been encouraged by public health officials like those in Oregon who posted these kinds of PSAs over the holidays:
Restaurants are using this as a marketing tool to make people think it’s safer to eat out in their segregated establishments. This discrimination is being encouraged, and in some cities mandated, by the same progressives who claim to be champions of equity, diversity and inclusion. Ironically it is people of color who will face the most discrimination here. One in every three African Americans in Oregon remain unvaccinated. Hispanics are even less likely to be fully vaccinated. This is a policy that overwhelmingly favors whites in Oregon.
The above chart shows current vaccination rates for Multnomah County, which includes the cities of Portland, Gresham and Troutdale.
Nobody should face discrimination because of a personal medical choice. Here’s a list of the restaurants choosing to do so. At the time of publication there were close to 100, and that doesn’t include Portland suburbs where I know of several eateries that are carding people.
It’s time to stop catering to lunacy and make it clear that this kind of discrimination is immoral, is not based in science and is not acceptable. The public health officers and elected officials who condone and encourage discrimination should be held accountable. That day of reckoning may be coming sooner than they think.