KINGS COUNTY, N.Y. —

New York City plans to soon lift one of its COVID-19 vaccine requirements for indoor activities, but Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving, who is unvaccinated, still won't be able to play home games due to the city's workplace vaccine mandate, a city official confirmed to CNN.

However, Irving would be able to attend home games as a spectator.

News of the restrictions were first reported by The Athletic's Shams Charania.

On Sunday, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced that provided the city's COVID-19 numbers continue to go down, he plans to lift the city's requirement to show proof of vaccination for indoor activities such as dining, attending gyms and entertainment facilities for those ages 5 and older starting March 7.

The move was part of a general relaxing of COVID-19 restrictions as the omicron wave of cases has sharply receded over the past month. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Sunday students will no longer be required to wear masks in schools, and Adams said he plans to remove the school mask mandate next week.

However, the city still has a mandate requiring all workers who perform in-person work or interact with the public to show proof they have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

"Businesses may not allow any unvaccinated workers to come to their workplace," the city's website explains.

The city does allow an exception for non-NYC resident entertainers and professional athletes. That means unvaccinated players on other NBA teams are still allowed to play against the Nets at Brooklyn's Barclays Center.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver noted that paradox on ESPN's "Get Up" two weeks ago, saying the city rule "doesn't quite make sense to me."

"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."

He added that about 97% to 98% of NBA players were vaccinated.

As an unvaccinated player, Irving — a seven-time NBA All-Star — made his return to the Nets in January, playing in only road games due to the city's mandate. Irving has played in 15 games this season, averaging 25.1 points per game and 5.3 assists. The Nets are 32-29 on the season.

The NBA directed comments to the mayor's office. CNN has reached out to the Nets for comment but did not immediately hear back.

New York City fired more than a thousand workers who failed to comply with the city's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, the mayor's office said Monday.

The 1,430 workers who lost their jobs represent less than 1% of the 370,000-person city workforce and are far fewer terminations than expected before a Friday deadline to get the shots.

The city sent notices in late January to up to 4,000 workers, saying they had to show proof they got at least two doses of the vaccine or else they'd lose their jobs. Three-quarters of those workers had already been on leave without pay for months, having missed an earlier deadline for getting vaccinated in order to stay on the job.

Mayor Eric Adams' office said hundreds of workers produced proof of their vaccines or got the shots after being notified they would be fired. Of the 1,430 fired workers, about 64% worked for the city's education department.

The United Federation of Teachers, the public school teachers' union, said last week that about 700 of its members had been given notice they would be fired. The union joined with others to sue to block the firings, but a judge ruled in favor of the city on Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday dismissed an appeal from a group of Department of Education employees. New York City has imposed some of the most sweeping vaccine mandates in the country, requiring almost all city workers to be vaccinated and requiring private employers to ensure their workers get vaccinated as well.

Customers of restaurants, gym and entertainment venues also have to show proof of vaccine to enter.

This story was originally published by Alexandra Miller of Newsy, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Vaccine advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention voted 15-0 Thursday to change recommendations for COVID-19 vaccines to make clear that shots made by Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech are preferred over Johnson & Johnson's vaccine.

The new recommendation: "mRNA vaccines are preferred over the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine for the prevention of Covid-19 for those 18 years of age and over."

Related video above: Omicron spreads 70 times faster than delta in certain respiratory tissue, researchers say

The CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices endorsed the updated recommendation after hearing new data indicating that a rare blood clotting syndrome is more common among people who recently got a J&J vaccine than previously believed. The CDC has logged 54 cases in the U.S. of thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome or TTS in the U.S. since the vaccine became available. Nine people have died -- seven women and two men.

ACIP members considered the new data and weighed it against numerous studies showing J&J's vaccine is less effective than the Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines in preventing infection. They also discussed the risks of completely removing J&J's vaccine as an option, as well as the potential confusion and mistrust that might be caused by changing recommendations about the vaccine.

"We will absolutely emphasize how important education around the risk of these events is," the CDC's Dr. Sara Oliver told the meeting.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration strengthened language in the fact sheet that goes along with the Janssen vaccine, saying it should not be given to anyone with a history of TTS.

Antonio Brown and two other NFL players have been suspended immediately for three games by the league for violating COVID-19 protocols.

The Tampa Bay wide receiver and teammate Mike Edwards were suspended Thursday. Free agent John Franklin III, if signed by a team, is also ineligible to play in the next three games.

Video above: Tampa Bay receiver Antonio Brown accused by former live-in-chef of faking vaccination status

All three players have accepted the discipline and waived their right of appeal. The suspensions are effective immediately.

The NFL Players Association, which developed the protocols along with the league, represented the three players during a review of the recent allegations that players misrepresented their vaccination status. Brown, Edwards, a cornerback, and Franklin, a defensive back who last played for the Bucs in 2019, were found in violation of the protocols.

Last month, Brown was accused of obtaining a fake COVID-19 vaccination card in order to circumvent NFL protocols, according to a report published by the Tampa Bay Times.

The allegation came from Brown's former live-in chef, Steven Ruiz, the newspaper said. Ruiz said he came forward with the accusation after Brown failed to pay $10,000 owed to him.

Ruiz said he was asked by Brown's girlfriend to get the fake card in July.

Ruiz was unable to acquire a vaccine card for Brown, but claimed the player later showed him fake cards Brown had obtained for himself and his girlfriend, the Times reported.

After the story broke, the Buccaneers released a statement saying they had vaccination cards from all players and that "all vaccination cards were reviewed by Buccaneers personnel and no irregularities were observed."

Brown's attorney, Sean Burstyn, told ESPN at the time that Brown was vaccinated.

NFL rules do not require players to be vaccinated, but those who are unvaccinated are subject to additional precautions including daily testing, masking and eating separately from teammates during meals.

Brown's career has been marked by off-field incidents, and he served an eight-game suspension last season before joining Tampa Bay. That punishment came after he made a no-contest plea to burglary and battery charges last year. Brown also was accused of sending threatening text messages by a woman who said he also made sexual advances toward her.

Brown, 33, has played parts of 12 seasons in the NFL. He was an All-Pro in 2014, '15, '16 and '17 with Pittsburgh, and also has been with the Raiders, Patriots and Bucs, though he never played in a game for the Raiders.

“The health and safety of players and personnel is our top priority," the NFL and NFLPA said in a joint statement. "The protocols were jointly developed working with our respective experts to ensure that we are practicing and playing football as safely as possible during the ongoing pandemic. The NFL-NFLPA jointly reinforce their commitment and further emphasize the importance of strict adherence to the protocols to protect the well-being of everyone associated with the NFL.”

Hearst station WCVB contributed to this report.

CINCINNATI —

A new law going into effect Wednesday bans vaccine mandates in Ohio public schools.

The law was passed in July and bans public school mandates of any vaccine that has not been fully approved by the FDA.

Pfizer has been fully approved for anyone over the age of 16.

Cincinnati Public Schools are as affected as any district by the new law.

“We’re the only district in Ohio who has a vaccination requirement for staff,” CPS board member Mike Moroski said.

Moroski said there is also a plan for a student vaccine mandate in the works.

“As policy chair, I ensured the language in our policy mirrored what the state law was going to be, which is what it is now, meaning if you wanted the vaccination, you had to get one that had FDA approval,” Moroski said.

There is also a component of the new law that says vaccinated and unvaccinated must be treated the same. So, schools could not put unvaccinated students in separate classrooms or require them to go to virtual school, unless it applies to all students.

There is a difference of opinion about whether schools can require unvaccinated to get regular COVID-19 tests.

“Our policy of submitting a negative test, there’s nothing in this state law that prohibits us from doing that,” Moroski said.

Others believe students and staff cannot be required to take the COVID-19 tests.

“I think that would percolate in the courts a little bit, just off of the initial reading, I’d say ‘no’ they cannot,” attorney Jason Phillabaum said.

Phillabaum said there are more vaccine mandate bans yet to come.

“This was passed three or four months ago when they first started to make mandates, and now, I think you’re starting to see some updated legislation that would prohibit the fully approved vaccine mandates as well,” Phillabaum said.

If the student vaccine mandate gets out of committee, CPS will vote on it on Oct. 28.

OXFORD, Ohio —

Among those who hope Miami University will require proof of vaccination against COVID-19 this fall is sophomore Savannah Walls.

"I totally believe that it can be your choice, but when you're affecting that many other people like with this pandemic, I feel like it should be mandated," Wall said.

Walls, who's been vaccinated since May, is glad to know more than 150 Miami faculty members signed onto an open letter to university officials. The letter calls on officials to make proof of vaccination a requirement, now that Pfizer's vaccine has received full approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

"I think it just says that, like, the majority of people on this campus, and the most educated people - I mean our professors are the people we're learning from - if they think that's a good idea, I feel, like, then faculty should take that, or administration should take that into consideration," Walls said.

That's what's happening according to a spokeswoman for the university, though it's not clear when a decision will be announced.

Jeremy Boncela hopes he will continue to be able to choose whether to get vaccinated during the fall semester.

"Personally, I'm not vaccinated, just because I think it's been not long enough to know what could happen," Boncela said. "Also I'm a Catholic. And just as a religious thing I feel like I don't need to take it."

About 25% of Miami's students who are on campus have either declined to take the shot or refused to share their vaccine status with school leaders.

Boncela isn't sure what he would do if a COVID-19 vaccine does become mandatory.

"I think I would do my best to resist it," he said. "But I think, right now I'm not totally sure. I think that is something that has crossed my mind and I've had to consider it more as of recent."

In a statement, a spokeswoman for Miami University said an announcement about a possible coronavirus vaccine mandate to be expected soon.

As far as other universities in the area go, Xavier University is requiring its students to get the COVID-19 vaccine before the start of the spring 2022 semester. A letter to students stated that university officials came to the decision following the full approval of the Pfizer vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration.

At the University of Cincinnati, officials say they are considering it, particularly after several state universities have implemented similar policies. President Neville Pinto released a statement Monday morning, saying they are watching other schools and universities closely as they consider a similar mandate.

The Butler County Care Facility continues to struggle to find workers despite a raise in union wages as several management positions remain open, and the new federal vaccination mandate could complicate matters.

The county has spent about $554,000 this year on contracted front-line workers to man the county-owned nursing home. The commissioners have had a contract with Professional Review Network Inc. for a facility administrator and this week agreed to extend the contract on a month-to-month basis, it included an $85 per hour increase up to $200.

The county has paid $72,930 for the temporary administrator. Last year during the height of pandemic when vacancies soared the home paid $1.24 million for temporary workers.

The top job at the county-run nursing home — which pays between $84,223 and $124,800 — has been vacant since former administrator Chamika Poole resigned last October. County Administrator Judi Boyko told the Journal-News the hourly increase was included because Professional Review Network was “grossly undercompensated” under the previous agreement.

She needed a new month-to-month agreement in case she finds a new administrator soon.

“The county is continuously seeking candidates and evaluating qualifications for compatibility at the facility. Based on the greater market of health care candidates have been few and far between,” Boyko said. “I thought I had identified a candidate but terms couldn’t be reached.”

The director of nursing also recently quit and they have posted that position. Human Resources Director Laurie Murphy said there are 4 to 5 vacant nursing positions and 10 to 12 openings for front-line workers. She said they are hoping the pay raise in the recently negotiated union contract — from $13.35 to $15 per hour — plus generous county benefits will help them attract more job candidates.

“There remains an overall shortage of clinical workers in the healthcare field and the hiring challenges we face are not unique to the Care Facility,” Murphy said. “The global impact of the pandemic and recent uptake in the Delta variant cases continues to impact hiring and retention across the entire healthcare industry.”

The assistant nursing director and assistant business office manager positions are also open. Boyko said they are holding off on filling those jobs because the daily census of patients has dropped to less than half capacity at around 50 in the 109-bed facility. Because of strict nursing home restrictions during the pandemic, families were choosing to remove their loved ones from congregate care.

“Since the census now has been below 50 we’ve been maintaining that just from a business operations and funding perspective,” Boyko said. “Definitely we will replace the director of nursing and we’ll just continue to monitor to see if there is a void without an assistant director of nursing and assistant business office manager.”

Adding to existing staffing issues, President Joe Biden has tied Medicaid funding to mandatory vaccinations for nursing home employees. The county home’s main source of revenue is reimbursement from Medicaid for patient care. Murphy said it is too soon to predict the impact of the new directive.

“The mandate was just reported yesterday and the actual regulation has not been issued,” Murphy said. “We will certainly continue to monitor the impact of the mandate and its implications on county operations at the Care Facility.”

Commissioner Don Dixon, who is in the elderly care field, said he personally thinks it’s a good idea but believes it could cause a “whole lot of problems.”

Commissioner T.C. Rogers said he is also concerned about the mandate’s impact on the Care Facility, especially with what is going on in the area where hospitals have already mandated vaccines for their employees.

“I’m also concerned about all of our hospitals which have made vaccinations mandatory for their medical staff and doctors have told me that they’re short-handed now,” Rogers said. “Yeah I’m concerned.”

The messages began pouring into the law office of Joseph Jordan in Killeen, Texas, soon after the Pentagon announced it would seek to make the COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for troops. Service members wanted to know what their options were if they didn't want to be vaccinated.

"It's been the number one issue for our law firm for the last few days," Jordan told CNN. "I'm getting emails, I'm getting messages on my Facebook, we're getting phone calls. It's been absolutely nuts. Three or four calls an hour."

The issue of mandatory vaccinations is relatively new for Jordan, whose experience as a criminal defense attorney near Fort Hood focuses on violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. But that hasn't slowed the calls.

"The questions aren't coming from the young enlisted. They're coming from the seniors, they're coming from the midlevel ranks," Jordan said. "I talked to a guy with 31 years in the service, and he asked, 'Do I need to retire now?'"

In the wake of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's announcement Monday that he would by mid-September seek the authority to make the vaccine mandatory even if it hadn't yet received full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, other law firms have seen a similar spike in inquiries. CNN spoke with five law firms with a focus on military law that say they have all seen a surge in inquiries about the COVID-19 vaccines. (Two other law firms say they have not received questions on this issue.)

'A lot of anger'

"The soldiers who have talked to me, I've experienced a lot of anger," said Joseph Owens, a lawyer who served in the U.S. Army's Judge Advocate General's Corps. Owens says his firm, based in Columbia, Maryland, has received about a dozen calls since Austin's announcement.

For Owens, the question revolves around whether it is a lawful order to compel service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. And to answer that question, he says he will look into the decision-making process behind mandating that vaccine and the legal considerations that went into the decision. Any procedural missteps in testing, authorizing, or administering the vaccine, he says, could make it an unlawful order.

"I think there's a very good argument that the answer is no, it's not a lawful order," Owens said, citing the troubled implementation of the anthrax vaccine in the late 1990s.

The military mandated the anthrax vaccine beginning in 1998, but it quickly ran into legal challenges and sowed distrust of unknown vaccines among service members, some of whom faced dismissal for their refusal to take the vaccine. That skepticism has crept up again with some troops for the COVID-19 vaccine.

"They want more data before they put a chemical in their body," Owens said.

But a similar challenge to the COVID-19 vaccines could be far more difficult to make, especially if the Defense Department waits for FDA approval before making the shots mandatory.

Despite being far newer vaccines, the COVID-19 shots have been administered to nearly 170 million Americans and many more around the world. The vaccines currently have an emergency use authorization from the FDA. Under this authorization, the military has made the vaccine available on a voluntary basis — troops who want to receive it can. But until now, Pentagon officials had been clear that they would not move to make it mandatory, focusing instead on encouragement and education to convince skeptical service members of its importance.

Jordan acknowledged the potential difficulty of challenging a mandatory order to get the coronavirus vaccine.

"You may not have a leg to stand on as it is, because you're looking at what is in the best interest of the service and your duty to your country," he said.

The military has accelerated its plans to vaccinate the force with the expectation of either imminent FDA approval or a request for a waiver from the defense secretary.

A draft warning order obtained by CNN from a West Coast Army base lays out a detailed plan to organize vaccinations across the facility, including what roles units will play and where vaccination sites will be set up. The warning order, which is notification of an upcoming mission, says the date the vaccine becomes mandatory will be referred to as "V-Day," short for vaccination day. It also appears to be a reference to "Victory Day," a holiday to mark successes in battles or war.

'V-Day'

"Given uncertainty with regard to potential FDA approval date, V-Day could occur with less than 7 days notice," the draft warning order states.

There are up to 17 mandatory vaccines for troops, though the total number required for each individual service member depends on where he or she is deployed or based. In the United States, service members are required to receive at least eight vaccines before basic training, including chickenpox, Hepatitis A&B, and a yearly flu vaccine. (The anthrax vaccine is required for longer deployments in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. In North America, it depends on Defense Department policy.)

As the Pentagon develops a policy around restrictions for service members who refuse to accept the COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes mandatory, troops who refuse the currently mandatory vaccines face an array of potential disciplinary actions, including possible discharge from the military.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Wednesday that commanders would have a "range of tools" to work with service members who did not want to receive the vaccine that do not rely on disciplinary measures. But he added that "once a vaccine has been mandated, it becomes a lawful order to compel an individual to take the vaccine."

"Our expectation is that if an individual doesn't want to take the vaccine that we're going to provide them some counseling," said Kirby at a press briefing Wednesday, including "access to doctors, access to leaders in their chain of command so they fully understand the implications and repercussions to them if they don't take the vaccine."

Kirby said there could be religious and medical exemptions to receiving the vaccine, but that it would be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Patrick McLain, a retired Marine Corps military judge based in Dallas who still practices law, fully expects that some troops will be discharged over their refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, similar to the courts-martial over the anthrax vaccine.

"I have no doubt it'll happen again," McLain said, estimating that it would take until the beginning of next year before the military began taking more severe actions. McLain said he had already taken on his first client who did not want to receive the vaccine, but he estimated that number across the military would be quite low in the end.

"There's probably a relatively small percentage in the military that will resist it," McLain said. "You're not going to find too many people that are joining the military that are going to refuse orders."

CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Public Schools will require all people entering a school or a building owned or controlled by the district wear masks for the 2021-2022 school year.

The resolution passed unanimously at Wednesday night's board meeting, according to a Tweet from board member Mike Moroski.

This decision follows the recommendations of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Academy of Pediatrics and other state and local health agencies.

Video above — Dr. Fauci: Be sure to get 2nd dose of vaccines

Dr. Anthony Fauci says federal guidance on wearing face coverings indoors may change soon.

Sunday on ABC News, Fauci was asked whether it's time to start relaxing indoor masks requirements. Fauci replied, "I think so, and I think you're going to probably be seeing that as we go along, and as more people get vaccinated."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be updating its guidance almost in real time, as more Americans get vaccinated, said Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

The CDC relaxed its guidance last month on wearing masks outdoors, but still advises both vaccinated and unvaccinated people to still wear masks in indoor public spaces, such as a mall, movie theater or museum.

"We do need to start being more liberal, as we get more people vaccinated," he added.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said Sunday face mask requirements should be relaxed now that the COVID-19 risk is dropping.

"Certainly outdoors, we shouldn't be putting limits on gatherings anymore," Gottlieb said. "The states where prevalence is low, vaccination rates are high, and we have good testing in place, we're identifying infections, I think we could start lifting these restrictions indoors as well, on a broad basis."

Lifting pandemic restrictions when they are no longer necessary will make it easier for public health officials to reimplement them if cases rise again, such as a potential winter surge, Gottlieb said.

Fauci makes a Mother's Day prediction

The U.S. probably will be back to normal by next Mother's Day, if enough people get vaccinated against COVID-19, Fauci said on ABC News.

"I hope that next Mother's Day, we're going to see a dramatic difference than what we're seeing right now," he said. "I believe that we will be about as close to back to normal as we can."

There are some conditions, he noted.

"We've got to make sure that we get the overwhelming proportion of the population vaccinated. When that happens, the virus doesn't really have any place to go," he said. "You're not going to see a surge. You're not going to see the kinds of numbers we see now."

White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients told CNN Sunday that the country is "turning the corner" on the pandemic — but stressed the importance of all Americans getting vaccinated.

He noted that President Joe Biden set a goal of having 70% of adults vaccinated by July 4.

"We're at 58% today. So we've got a path ahead of us," he said.

Zients said that despite some mask fatigue, Americans should continue to follow the science when it comes to wearing masks indoors, and wait for new CDC guidance before changing their habits.

"We all want to get back to a normal lifestyle. I think we're on the path to do that, but stay disciplined, and let's take advantage of the new privileges of being vaccinated and not wearing masks outdoors for example, unless you're in a crowded place," he said.