New York City mayor to lift vaccine mandate for performers and athletes: reports

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New York City Mayor Eric Adams is expected to announce a major policy change Thursday that will lift a coronavirus vaccine mandate for performers and athletes, allowing the unvaccinated to play professional sports in the city, according to multiple reports.

Teams in the Big Apple had been awaiting a rollback of the private employer mandate that prohibits unvaccinated employees from working in person. The mandate prohibits athletes unvaccinated against COVID-19 from playing games in New York. 

Adams is expected to reverse the mandate for performers and athletes in local venues in New York City, including Citi Field in Queens, Yankee Stadium in the Bronx and the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Politico reported. Those venues are home to the New York Mets, New York Yankees, and the Brooklyn Nets.

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Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who is unvaccinated, was not permitted to play in any games in New York City this season due to the mandate. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver chimed in on the rule last month, saying it "doesn’t quite make sense."

"This law in New York, the oddity of it to me is that it only applies to home players," Silver said. "I think if ultimately that rule is about protecting people who are in the arena, it just doesn’t quite make sense to me that an away player who is unvaccinated can play in Barclays, but the home player can’t. To me, that’s a reason they should take a look at that ordinance."

The Brooklyn Nets' Kyrie Irving reacts after hitting a shot in a game against the Indiana Pacers Jan. 5, 2022, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Irving, who made it clear he wasn't going to be