A vast majority of businesses in New Haven have become “card-only” since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. Local businesses that have employed the “card-only” policy claim that cash purchases have become obsolete. While valid fears related to indirect contact transmission (i.e. from hand to $20 bill) existed at the start of the pandemic, those fears should have been alleviated with the discovery of COVID-19 as an infectious agent through airborne (respiratory) transmission. In order to set up a credit or debit card, one must set up a bank account which requires an identity screening process, a permanent address, and funds. For people experiencing homelessness or housing instability, establishing such permanence may be impossible. 6.25% of American households have no checking or savings account according to 2017 data (Federal Reserve, 2017). 

A ban on cash purchases is a direct infringement on the human rights and wellbeing of people living in poverty. New Haven City Council needs to ACT NOW to ban "card-only" purchases within local businesses. 

More Information:

https://www.aclu.org/blog/privacy-technology/consumer-privacy/say-no-cashless-future-and-cashless-stores 

https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cashless-stores-credit-debit-payments-20190402-story.html