LI business owners, health care workers relieved, frustrated with Supreme Court decision on vaccine mandates

The Supreme Court dealt a blow to President Joe Biden's vaccine-or-test mandate for large, private businesses.
A vaccination requirement for health care workers was upheld.
The co-owner of Long Island Boot Camp in Farmingdale says it's a step toward normalcy.
"It's about time that we're moving in this direction," says Charles Cassara.
The mandate for private businesses had applied to those with 100 workers or more.
Labor attorney Jon Bell says the high court's decision has to do with COVID being catchable anywhere.
"It's not limited to the workplace," Bell says. "So a fair viewing of the facts, the Supreme Court made the correct decision."
The judges did uphold the vaccination mandate for facilities that accept Medicare and Medicaid, something that some nurses are not happy with.
Donna Schmidt is an unvaccinated nurse who organizes protests against vaccine requirements.
"Health care workers are no more at risk of infecting the people they're caring for or the general public than anyone else in any institution," Schmidt says.
Dr. David Battinelli, who works at Northwell Health, says the vaccine has helped keep hospitals running during the latest surge.
He says they need health care workers vaccinated to have a health force that is available to take care of people when they get sick.
Bell says that mandate follows the law because it applies to facilities that receive federal money from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
President Biden issued a statement Thursday saying the vaccine mandates have been saving lives.
He is now putting the pressure on states and individual businesses to implement their own requirements saying it's up to them to make their workplaces as safe as possible.