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LAS VEGAS (AP) – Six weeks ago, thousands of New Year’s revelers gathered under the neon-lit marquees on the Las Vegas Strip – even though the big annual fireworks display was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The sight of large crowds, including many without masks, has raised concerns that COVID-19 infections may skyrocket, followed by hospitalizations and then death. This is exactly what happened. January was Nevada’s deadliest month since the pandemic began, with 1,132 deaths. December was the second.
Now the virus is reshaping a tourist destination built to excess and known for its bright lights, large crowds, hearty meals and headlines. Visitors arrive to find some freedoms restricted and some familiar attractions closed, but parking and great prices are plentiful. The great performances and conventions are still pending.
“We have an industry that invites people from all over the world to come here, and unfortunately when they come here they can bring disease with them,” said Brian Labus, longtime epidemiologist with the Southern Nevada Health District, who teaches now in public health at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. “The problem is that it is spreading among our local population.”
As of mid-January, more than half of hospitals in and around Las Vegas reported being at least 90% full. A suburban medical center declared a capacity crisis, with more patients than beds. Nearly half of its 147 beds were occupied by coronavirus patients.
Deaths in Nevada reached a single-day record of 71 on January 21. As of Thursday, total deaths from COVID-19 statewide were 4,637 since the start of the pandemic.
As in other cities, some overwhelmed funeral homes have used refrigerated trailers to hold the dead, Acting Coroner Michael Murphy said.
“It’s nothing like I’ve ever experienced in my nursing career,” said Dina Armstrong, a nurse at MountainView Hospital in northwest Las Vegas. “Dealing with this disease is mind-blowing – the stress and the environment.”
On the streets, the result is far fewer tourists and “a very different experience,” said repeat visitor Marilinda Sepulveda as she and her husband waited to take photos next to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign. .
The Mission, Texas couple spent two nights at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in the heart of the Strip. “The nightlife is this: you play, you walk, you go to your room,” Sepulveda said.
Speaking through a cloth mask, her husband, Ozzy Benavidez, said they would have gone to magic shows and restaurants. Instead, the couple bought take-out and ate in their room.
Some famous properties have been abandoned, including the Mirage Casino and its iconic man-made volcanic eruptions on the Strip.
Others, like the Encore Wynn Resorts property, are closed during the week but open on weekends. Unused convention space in the elegant, curved 2,700-room tower has been converted into a vaccination center run by the region’s public hospital. Almost 11,500 people were shot dead there.
At the Las Vegas Convention Center, where a huge new wing was slated to open in time for the big Consumer Electronics gadget show in early January, officials opened a facility for people receiving their second dose of the vaccine. The CES took place virtually.
Along the Strip, from the renovated Sahara to Mandalay Bay with glittering golden windows, visitors have found quiet wooden floors, shuttered showrooms, and affordable rates.
Daniel Pangau, pastor of an Indonesian Christian church in Brea, Calif., Estimated that a three-day stay at the Delano Hotel for his family of six was less than half the price before the pandemic.
Tourists find plenty of parking lots and signs everywhere reminding them to wear masks. They don’t see the thousands of workers still out of work.
When casinos closed in mid-March, 98% of the 60,000 members of local culinary unions and bartenders were fired. Union spokeswoman Bethany Khan said only about half were back to work now.
At least 115 union members and immediate family members have died from COVID-19, and nearly 2,000 have been hospitalized with the virus since March, Khan said.
Unemployment in Nevada fell from a historic low of 3.6% in February 2020 to a record 30.1%, the worst in the country, in April. This figure had fallen to 9.2% in December.
From mid-March to January 30, more than 834,000 people filed a first claim for unemployment benefits, according to the state unemployment office. This figure is particularly surprising when compared to the size of the state’s entire workforce a year ago – 1.4 million people.
The number of visitors fell by more than half in 2020 – just 19 million – from 42.5 million in 2019, according to data compiled by tourism, airport and gambling regulators.
Casino tax revenues, a key source of funding in a state without personal income tax, fell 40% in the calendar year, gambling regulators reported.
The major conventions came to a complete halt in March and have not resumed. Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak let the casinos reopen in June with pandemic crowd restrictions. In November, he instituted what he called a “pause” in reopening.
Citing progress against the virus, the governor on Thursday announced that restrictions on businesses and gatherings could be relaxed over the next three months.
Casinos, gyms, bars and restaurants will increase from 25% to 35% of their capacity as of Monday, with seating limits, mask mandates and social distances required. Casinos could reach 50% of their capacity next month. Clubs and discos remain closed.
By the time the shows resume, some veteran performers may be gone, said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino executive who is now a fellow of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“A toll yet to be measured is the loss of talent,” Feldman said. “To what extent have people moved on to other careers or returned to school or out of state? This remains to be determined.
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