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The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday took a step toward mandating that residents show proof that they have had at least one Covid-19 dose before entering indoor locations and businesses in the nation's second largest city. 

It is the latest in steps being taken by municipalities across the country to curb the spread of the Indian delta variant that has sent coronavirus positivity rates soaring across the country. 

In a unanimous 13-to-0 vote, the council directed its city attorney to draft legislation, and work out the policy's precise details, such as enforcement and where exactly it would apply. 

The council called for the ordinance to cover places such as restaurants, bars, gyms concert venue and movie theaters - and also includes 'retail establishments', meaning customers would need a shot in order to go shopping. 

That would make it more restrictive than the policy announced by New York City last week, which only covers more entertainment-focused venues such as restaurants, gyms and theaters, Deadline reported.  

The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday directed the city attorney to draft legislation that would require all residents to show proof that they have received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose in order to enter indoor spaces, including retail establishments. LA residents are pictured last month at the Grand Central Market

The vote came as the city, and the wider LA county have seen surging coronavirus cases driven by the Indian delta variant 

Specifics have not been finalized, and the council called on city employees to meet with business leaders to come up with a plan. 

It is also not clear how it would affect essential retail businesses such as grocery stores and pharmacies. 

The announcement came as the wider Los Angeles County has seen a surge in coronavirus cases over the past two months. 

An average of 3,422 new cases were recorded in LA over the past week, a 10.9 percent increase over the previous week, according to the LA County Department of Public Health.

Deaths and hospitalizations are up as well, and LA County currently accounts for 33 percent of all coronavirus cases in California, the nation's most populous state  

Deaths and hospitalizations have risen as well, with 16 new deaths and 1,648 current hospitalizations due to Covid-19 recorded over the past seven days, a 45.5 and 4.8 percent increase over the previous week respectively.

LA County accounts for 33 percent of all coronavirus cases in California, the country's most populous state. 

The infections come despite 6.3 million people, or 71.5 percent of the county's population over the age of 12, having received at least one coronavirus vaccine dose.

Statewide, 21.6 million residents or 63.8 percent of the state's eligible population has been vaccinated, and it has recorded 9,925 new cases over the past week, a 0.3 percent increase, according to the California Department of Health.  

Overall, new U.S. cases have increased more than five-fold over the past month with the seven-day average hitting 113,357 on Thursday. 

The city council's proposal elicited a variety of responses. 

The LA City Council Decision came a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that the state will become the first in the US to require that its teachers and other school staff be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19 

The governor announced the new policy at a San Francisco Bay Area school that reopened earlier this week to in-person classes. Above, Newsom observed a full classroom after his announcement

Jot Condie president and CEO of the California Restaurant Association said: 'If asking patrons for proof of vaccination in indoor public spaces can help us all avoid more shutdowns, massive layoffs and operating limits, then we will do everything we reasonably can to assist,' the Los Angeles Times reported.  

The United Food and Commercial Workers Local 770, the union representing more than 30,000 workers in the state, including grocery store employees, also welcomed the measure, the outlet reported, but called on the council to include provisions in the ordinance to provide for a trained 'health and safety' enforcement officer for retail locations. 

'It is impossible for retail workers to maintain the store inside and enforce the vaccine requirement outside,' union President John M. Grant wrote in a letter to the council, according to the LA Times. 

Detractors, blasted the proposal as overreaching and a form of segregation. 

The announcements came as statewide, 21.6 million California residents or 63.8 percent of the state's eligible population has been vaccinated,

Some who wrote to the council argued that vaccines were harmful or dismissed the threat of the pandemic. 

'What you are proposing is just a way to punish people who aren’t vaccinated,' one argued, according to the LA Times. 'This is absolutely unscientific and unnecessary.'

Those who called into the meeting also criticized the measure, with some comparing it to the the Holocaust, Deadline reported. 

Councilman Bob Blumenfield disagreed with the comparison. 

'When you ask someone for their papers for the purpose of sending them to a death camp, that is the exact opposite of asking for proof of vaccination so we can save lives, it is the opposite,' he said, according to Deadline.

Already LA officials in the city and county have approved plans mandating its municipal workers be vaccinated, Newsweek reported.

And on July 17 the county reinstated an indoor mask mandate for all residents.  

The measures in California come amid a nationwide trend of increasing infections. New U.S. cases have increased more than five-fold over the past month with the seven-day average hitting 113,357 on Thursday

The vote also came a day after California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the state would become the first to require its teachers and other school staff be vaccinated or regularly tested for COVID-19.

Newsom called the move 'a responsible step' to ensure the safety of children. 

The governor announced the new policy at a San Francisco Bay Area school that reopened earlier this week to in-person classes. Many California schools are back in session, with others starting in the coming weeks.

'We think this is the right thing to do and we think this is a sustainable way to keeping our schools open and to address the number one anxiety that parents like myself have for young children,' said Newsom, who is a father of four.

San Francisco became one of the United States' biggest flashpoints over reopening plans, after many teachers refused to reopen classrooms for the entire 2020-2021 academic year. 

That infuriated parents, with teachers claiming it still wasn't safe to return to in person-learning despite vaccines becoming widely available at the start of the year. 

Several large school districts in the state have issued similar requirements in recent days, including San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and the Long Beach Unified.

The new requirement affects California's 320,000 public school teachers and tens of thousands of others - from cafeteria employees to cleaners and even school volunteers. 

LA joins New York City where Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Tuesday that customers and workers will have to show proof that they've had at least one dose of a vaccine

In New York City, its announcement last week that both restaurant workers and customers would need to show proof of vaccination was met with backlash.   

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced that New York will be the first major city in the United States to require that indoor diners, theatergoers and gym members show proof of vaccination if they want to receive service.

Meanwhile, there's no data to even determine how many restaurant and catering workers have their vaccines. They'll also be required to have their shots, according to the new rule.

A spokesperson for the New York City Hospitality Alliance said there is no data on what percentage of hospitality workers are vaccinated. The city's Health Department also doesn't keep track.

Jose Amigon, 56, the general manager of Paul's Da Burger Joint in the East Village, says requiring customers be vaccinated will cause problems

The news on the vaccination requirement for customers was met with mixed reaction from restaurant owners and managers, who say that while they are hopeful this will spur more New Yorkers to get vaccinated. 

It could also pose problems for those trying to enforce the measure.

'If you ask the customer for proof that they had the vaccine, then you're going to have a lot of problems,' Jose Amigon, 56, the general manager of Paul's Da Burger Joint in the East Village, told DailyMail.com.

'People get mad, angry, upset.'

Ataur Rahman, 64, is the general manager of DallasBBQ in the East Village. He told DailyMail.com that it hasn't been a problem to get his staff vaccinated

Amigon, who says he lost 25 relatives to COVID-19, said that he has had to call the police on several occasions during the pandemic after rowdy customers refused his request to wear a mask.

In one instance, a customer slammed his fist and cracked the plastic partition shield that he put up in front of the cash register.

'If you ask customers if they had the vaccine, they'll get offended,' he said. 'One hundred percent.'  

Ataur Rahman, 64, is the general manager of DallasBBQ in the East Village.

He told DailyMail.com that it hasn't been a problem to get his staff vaccinated.

Out of a workforce of 42 employees, 80 percent have been vaccinated.

As for how he intends to check whether his customers have gotten the shot, that's complicated, he said.

'It is difficult. Forget about vaccination - it has been difficult with the mask issues,' Rahman told DailyMail.com.

'We still don't know how to deal with that.'

Rahman said that while details of de Blasio's plan have yet to be announced, it will most likely entail asking customers to show their vaccination cards at the entrance.

He said he hopes the vaccination requirement will go much smoother than the mask mandate.

'Sometimes customers would get aggressive [when we asked them to mask up],' he said.

'We've been going through this a lot.'