“I don’t envy her having to make these tough decisions,” she says. “But that’s their job, you know? You have to do it. “
Some local business owners I spoke to criticized elected officials in the state for not doing more sooner and blamed them for appearing so concerned about the almost certain backlash and threat to their re-election prospects that they were hesitated on a move that would benefit both public health and the economy. Politicians deny this characterization – no one is ordering an unprecedented closure of the Las Vegas Strip to increase popularity – arguing that too many instructions from them would only further remove people from masks and gunfire.
“There are better sellers for this vaccine than me,” says Naft, the district administrator. “They have to be people of the same age. It must be medical professionals. And it has to be people with whom people identify more directly. “
Add to this the difficulty that not all local officials agree on the importance of the vaccine to the city’s recovery. In her spacious office with a panoramic view of the city, Goodman, the mayor of Vegas, has a small sign on her desk: “Without facts and data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” But despite one study after another that found That the vaccines are effective, she says, she is waiting for more facts and data on the need for mask and vaccination requirements – more evidence that, as she puts it, “should prove without ambiguity that this is what we do should do “. to do.”
“I don’t think we’re 100 percent sure we have answers right now,” she told me. When asked if she would support any vaccine mandate, Goodman replied that “she really can’t answer that. I just don’t have enough information. “
Goodman rose to fame earlier last year for calling the closings “total insanity” and telling CNN anchor Anderson Cooper that she wanted to offer Las Vegas as a “control group” by reopening it. When asked if it had become clear in the past 18 months that some restrictions were needed to get the economy back, she doesn’t answer directly now – “Once we knew there was a virus, you had to do things wisely,” replied she – and her office made no comment on Biden’s move to commission the shots. While she has encouraged vaccines because the CDC tells her to, she equates to telling someone to have an injection so that they have their hair cut.
“I have no right,” she says.
Deep inside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino At the south end of the strip, past rows of neon slot machines and around the corner from the huge sportsbook, four floor-to-ceiling posters of Michael Jackson cover the wall in front of the theater where the Cirque du Soleil show celebrates Jackson’s life and career is about to end Open their doors again on August 1st for the first time in 18 months.
The energy is electric. A trio of women in town for a girls’ getaway wait in line wearing matching cheetah print masks. A young Colorado couple postponed their flight home for a day to be here. A newlyweds from California appear fresh from their wedding, the woman is still wearing her white dress and her bouquet of flowers. A saleswoman manning the gift shop in Jackson claps her hands as she walks over to another one who sells programs. “This is so exciting!” She squeaks.
After months of closings, record-breaking unemployment, and a mind-boggling number of illnesses and deaths, there are signs here that Las Vegas is returning to its old self: a packed theater. Photographers taking photos of participants along the way. A man inexplicably dressed in a Jackson outfit, broadcasting the opening night live, keeping an eye out for celebrities, and broadcasting the event for anyone who can’t be there.
“It feels good to be back to normal – kind of,” says Aaron Wegener, a California tourist who holds his son’s hand while they wait to get their tickets scanned.
The show isn’t sold out, and they won’t come in the next few days either. Visitors continue to wear masks and are asked to disinfect their hands when entering. Even so, the reopening is an attempt to return to normal – and a return to work for hundreds of cast and crew members, not just the dancers at the center but the small army of trainers, makeup artists, costume designers and lighting technicians who power the production. From the airport to the Strip, the city is covered in cirque billboards that broadcast “INTERMISSION IS OVER”.
