Some leading Las Vegas casinos have ordered their employees to wear masks again following a recommendation from a Nevada health agency as COVID-19 cases rise nationwide. [Image: Shutterstock.com]
Nevada Health Department makes recommendation
Some Sin City casinos – Las Vegas Sands, Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, and The Venetian – have mandated staff reassign themselves as Nevada struggles to contain the swelling COVID-19 cases caused by the ultra- contagious delta variant are dominated.
The casinos’ move came following a July 16, mask-up recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) that went to Twitter the same day to share its guidelines:
The Health District recommends that both unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals wear masks in crowded indoor public places including grocery stores, malls, major events, and casinos to stop the spread of # Covid_19. The full recommendation is available at https://t.co/orgcQl0AwN pic.twitter.com/nWfrolYMIA
– SN Health District (@SNHDinfo) July 16, 2021
The SNHD urged everyone, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks in crowded indoor public spaces, including […] Casinos ”to counter the spread of the aggressive virus through wildfire. The wearing of masks is currently not a government mandate.
After a relatively stable period in May, new COVID-19 cases began to cross the 200-day mark in mid-June, according to a report by the SNHD focused on Clark County. Since July 5, the daily cases have exceeded 400 According to the Associated Press, 938 new cases were reported across Nevada on July 15, making it the largest one-day COVID-19 surge since February.
Nevada’s call to cover up again came a day after Los Angeles County said people would have to wear masks again indoors. Citing data from John Hopkins University, USA Today posits 1,000 new COVID-19 infections per hour in the United States – an average of 25,300 new transmissions daily.
Seen it for Vegas?
The imposition of wearing masks on Las Vegas Sands, Westgate Las Vegas, and The Venetian employees comes with some casinos offering free masks to visitors. USA Today reported that MGM Resorts International, which operates the Bellagio and other resorts on the Strip, is keeping a close eye on the situation but has not changed its masking policy as of July 16.
Mask recommendations can hardly affect people’s current wanderlust
The US daily also quoted casino advisor Debi Nutton as saying that the mask recommendation would have little impact on the current trend for people to travel to Vegas. “Right now, traveling to Las Vegas is high,” commented Nutton, adding, “I think our guests are comfortable … I don’t know if that will make a big difference.”
For an industry that suffered huge losses in the March 2020 pandemic outbreak, skeptics will feel a déjà vu, no matter how harmless the return of the masks may sound now.
Wearing masks will do little to hide the smiles in the eyes of Nevada casino resort operators after a massive month of May. Casinos across the state posted record earnings of $ 1.23 billion for the month. The number broke the October 2007 record of $ 1.165 billion and signaled a happy rebound to good business for the gambling and tourism industries.
Ride the wave of wellbeing
As Nutton illustrated, the pent-up demand does not diminish when traveling to Vegas. After months of downtime, every small step on the path of the albeit slow return to the busy Nevada casinos has felt like a big win.
In May, the removal of masks and barriers in several Nevada casinos led to a comment by poker pro and YouTuber Jeff Sluzinski (aka Jeff Boski) on Twitter about “a timeless moment in poker history”:
A timeless moment in poker history
– Jeff Boski (@ICuRaRook) May 15, 2021
At that time, Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts, called the eased restrictions “a significant milestone” and played the cheerleading-cheerleaders for his employees, telling them to “keep this excitement and momentum going.”
In the same month that the masks were removed, Nevada posted its record game win. It remains to be seen what effects the reassembled masks will have.
