No rule coming, but Pierce health officials to support businesses that require vaccinations

Pierce County businesses that require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 for indoor activities will receive official support from the local health department.

The Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department stopped short of issuing a policy requirement but on Tuesday unveiled BRAVO, meaning Businesses Requiring A Vaccine Verification Onsite. The voluntary program provides participating businesses guidance, training tools and signage.

Four Tacoma restaurants — ALMA, Crudo & Cotto, Edison City Alehouse and Red Star Taco Bar — and The Grand Cinema have joined so far. All five businesses had instituted vaccine checks on their own accord, in addition to a handful of others including The Mix, en Rama, Symphony Tacoma and Tacoma Arts Live.

“We want to be part of the solution, and we want to end the pandemic,” said Billy Beckett, co-owner of Red Star in Tacoma and Seattle, where vaccine checks are mandated by the Seattle-King County Health Department. Both restaurants have required proof since August.

Believing there is strength in numbers, said spokesperson Kenny Via, the agency expects additional restaurants, venues, gyms and other businesses with prolonged indoor activities to sign onto the program.

“This is us coming out publicly and saying, we support them,” Via said.

The health department worked with local business owners, the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber, the Economic Development Board for Tacoma-Pierce County, the Washington Hospitality Association and local officials to design a program that made sense for all parties.

Those conversations took time, said Director of Health Dr. Anthony Chen.

“We’re trying very hard to listen, and this was the speed with which we could create it,” Chen told The News Tribune in an interview Tuesday afternoon, “and it wasn’t easy.”

Overall, most businesses were not in favor of an across-the-board requirement, according to Chen, as is the case in King, Jefferson and Clallam counties.

“It’s not whether you’re right or not — it’s whether you can get it done,” he said.

Instead, support infrastructure from a public health perspective was ultimately deemed the best-fitting strategy.

“It’s a win-win,” said Chen. “This is a public health thing, to try to reduce infections — that is true — but the real push behind this is this helps to keep the businesses open and thriving.”

WHY PROOF OF VACCINATION MATTERS

For the few businesses that went ahead with their own vaccine or recent negative COVID-19 test policies, a common lament was the lack of leadership from local authorities.

The first few weeks in Tacoma were “awful” said Red Star’s Beckett, “but it very quickly rebounded.” Sales have neared pre-pandemic levels, and gratuity percentages have likewise increased.

Importantly, he added, is “how many people go out of their way now to express how thankful they are that we offer this dining experience, that they can feel at ease.”

Now, as the health department writes on the BRAVO webpage, it can point to this formal program.

Especially for restaurants, said Chen, the reality is that customers must remove their masks to enjoy the experience. Even if the staff is vaccinated and masked, the risk of community spread decreases if the people around you are also vaccinated.

“Nothing is 100 percent,” he said. “We are just making sure that there are all these different layers of protection. It’s just another way that we can help keep people healthier and keep the businesses open — and it works both ways.”

He compared those virus mitigation techniques — masks, frequent handwashing, social distancing and vaccinations — with the requirements for driving a car and the safety improvements in manufacturing, from needing a license to wearing corrective lenses if you have poor vision, from airbags to seat belts and rumble strips on the side of highways.

“We make the cars safer,” he said. “There are multiple layers of protection.”

For Beckett, a county-level mandate would have been the ultimate goal, but he trusts that the BRAVO program will encourage more businesses to take the plunge — and that their long-term health, physically and financially, will be better off for it.

“This is the best we have,” he told The News Tribune in a phone call. “We are going to gain lifelong guests because of their experience right now. People that wouldn’t have found us have sought us out. Once this pandemic is behind us, we’re still going to capture them, and we’re going to capture the people that might not have been willing to produce that information to dine out. It’s a net gain in the long-run.”

This story was originally published January 25, 2022 at 3:30 PM.