Officials advise wearing masks in Vegas as coronavirus cases rise

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Masks are back in Las Vegas, after regional health officials on Friday noted a surge in coronavirus cases and advised everyone — whether vaccinated or not — to wear face coverings in crowded and enclosed spaces.

The recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District is not a requirement. But it is affecting casinos, concerts and clubs where business has boomed since restrictions were lifted and the country fully reinstated anti-pandemic measures in counties about seven weeks ago.

“Vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals should wear masks when they are in crowded public places…such as grocery stores, malls, large events and casinos,” Dr. Fermin Leguin, the district’s chief health officer, told reporters.

He said the district does not have the authority to make masks mandatory, leaving that question to the state, county and cities.

Legwin added that clinics for vaccinations and testing are continuing at sites across the region.

Vaccination rates have stalled in recent weeks in Nevada, a libertarian state where health officials reported Friday that about 55% of residents 12 or older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Statewide, about 46.3% have been fully vaccinated.

Nationwide, 68% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

A union official representing 60,000 Nevada casino employees released a statement noting the risks to workers from unvaccinated people.

Culinary union official Geoconda Argüello-Kline pointed to CDC data that more than 97% of people recently hospitalized with COVID-19 have not received a vaccine.

The Las Vegas mask recommendation came after Nevada health officials Thursday reported 938 new COVID-19 cases statewide — the largest single-day jump in coronavirus cases since February — and 15 new deaths.

It also came on the heels of a call from the Los Angeles chief of public health for Californians to rethink travel plans to Nevada so that the numbers of COVID-19 cases in the Silver State decline.

Weekend visitors from Southern California in recent months have piled on Interstate 15, the main route for the 270-mile (435-kilometre) journey between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

“I want to recommend, especially if you’re not immune, that you reconsider travel to places where COVID-19 infection rates are increasing for seven days or rising like Nevada, our neighbor,” Dr. Monto Davis told Los Angeles County Commissioners Tuesday. .

Davis also recommended the use of masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.

Michelle White, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak’s chief of staff, responded during a phone call with reporters Thursday with a suggestion that people travel to Nevada and receive a vaccination.

“That’s why we’re working to make sure we have vaccination and testing sites located in places like the Las Vegas Strip. This is open to any individual, workers…visitors. We have all three vaccines offered, including the one. If someone is coming in,” White said. From out of state, that might be more appropriate and we certainly encourage everyone to do that.”

The Department of Health and Human Services said test positivity, a key marker for the proportion of people found to have the virus, tripled from 3.4% five weeks ago to 10.9% Thursday.

The positive number reported by the state Department of Health and Human Services was 12.3% in the Las Vegas area.

The number of new cases reported Friday in Nevada was 866, and six new deaths. This brings the number of lives lost in the state to 5,758 to COVID-19 since March 2020.

Most cases and deaths in Nevada during the pandemic have been in the Las Vegas area, which is home to 2.3 million people and hosts tens of millions of visitors annually.

On Friday, Washoe County health officials said they have no plans to implement mask requirements or recommendations because the virus has not spread in the Reno Sparks area as far as it has in Las Vegas.

Elsewhere, local officials from Lander and Elko County have recently focused on passing protective orders against passport vaccinations.

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Associated Press writers Scott Soner in Reno and Sam Metz in Carson City contributed to this report.

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