Following the trend of other left-wing cities in the United States, Philadelphia will begin requiring Covid-19 vaccine papers for food and drink customers on January 3. While introduced under the guise of curbing the city’s coronavirus spread, it will do nothing of the sort and will burden both customers and businesses alike. 

Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney and Health Commissioner Cheryl Bettigole announced the mandate in early December. While places will be allowed to accept proof of a negative test within the first two weeks of the mandate’s implementation, January 17 will mark the date when vaccination will have to be demonstrated, as the city notes on its website. In addition to restaurants, bars, sports venues, casinos, and bowling alleys, Kenney’s mandate will apply to conventions and museum cafés. 

There are several glaring problems with Philadelphia’s anti-common good initiative. For one, based on what we know about Covid, there is no indication that the mandate will “stop the spread.” 

Philadelphia’s move to align with similar diktats in San Francisco, New Orleans, and New York, is precisely contrary to the same “science” Democrats have claimed to personally own throughout the pandemic. It has become clear that vaccination may lessen symptoms but does not prevent transmission. It has also become increasingly clear that the vaccinated and unvaccinated are spreading Covid at comparable rates, as several doctors described in a Federalist column on December 14.  

While introduced under the guise of curbing the city’s coronavirus spread, it will do nothing of the sort and will burden both customers and businesses alike.

Learning to live with the virus, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver even reiterated this month, means following actual science and not unethically depriving Americans of the chance to engage with their communities. It is certainly true that the Omicron variant is spreading and infecting a lot of Philadelphians. It is also true that — like the seasonal flu – there will likely be many variants of an emerging disease. Those being infected are still older, at-risk, and often immunocompromised, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

Philadelphia, however, is punishing its citizens. It’s cruel. This attack on ordered liberty — freedom limited by a virtuous check on government — will target customers, business owners, and minorities, who are vaccinated at lesser rates than whites. 

Restaurants are already sounding the alarm. For good reason. Two owners in the city told The Philadelphia Tribune they are skeptical of the mandate. “It’s just more work and a bigger headache,” Barbara Devan of Tasties soul food restaurant in West Philadelphia said. “We have to get used to whatever rules they are putting in place.” 

Amid a nearly 40-year inflation high and a rising producer price index, Democrats in Philadelphia are choosing to enact more coronavirus restrictions that have been shown to severely damage the economy. Business owners will jump through hoops, minorities will be disproportionately affected, and the city government will wield more power. It’s heaven for woke bureaucrats who evidently care little about genuine discrimination. 

The CDC touts that 72 percent of Philadelphians over age 18 have been fully vaccinated. Good for these people. They will dine out with loved ones. 

But what about the other 28 percent? What about those who have not yet gotten the vaccine and never will? How long will Philadelphia punish the “unclean?” 

It remains to be seen. But in the words of statesman Edmund Burke: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” 

Good men must now do something. They ought to stand up to tyranny. 

Gabe Kaminsky is a senior contributor to The Federalist and an investigative intern at the Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter.