LAS VEGAS (AP) – Six weeks ago, thousands of New Year’s revelers gathered under the neon-lit marquees on the Las Vegas Strip – although the big annual fireworks show was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The sight of the large crowd, including many people without masks, raised fears that COVID-19 infections would skyrocket, followed by hospitalizations and deaths. 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 for excess and known for bright lights, large crowds, indulgent meals and headline programs. Visitors arrive to find some restricted liberties and some closed family attractions, but parking and bargain prices abound. Great presentations and conventions are still waiting.
“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, a longtime epidemiologist in the Southern Nevada Sanitary District, who now teaches the public health at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. “The concern is that it will spread to our local population.”
In 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. Almost half of its 147 beds were occupied by patients with coronavirus.
Nevada deaths reached a record 71 in a single day on January 21. As of Thursday, the total number of deaths across the state from COVID-19 was 4,637 since the pandemic began.
As in other cities, some overworked funeral homes used refrigerated trailers to contain the dead, said coroner Michael Murphy.
“It’s nothing like I’ve experienced in my nursing career,” said Dina Armstrong, a nurse at MountainView Hospital in northwest Las Vegas. “Dealing with this disease is mind-blowing – stress and the environment.”
On the streets, the result is far less tourists and “a very different experience,” said Marilinda Sepulveda, a recurring visitor, while she and her husband waited to take pictures 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: you play, walk, go to your room,” said Sepúlveda.
Speaking through a cloth mask, her husband, Ozzy Benavidez, said they would have gone to magic shows and restaurants. Instead, the two bought take-out meals and ate in the room.
Some remarkable properties have been disabled, including the Mirage casino and its iconic man-made volcanic eruptions on the Strip.
Others, like Wynn Resorts Encore, are closed during the week, but open on weekends. The unused convention space in the elegant 2,700-room curved tower was reused as a vaccination center operated by the region’s public hospital. Almost 11,500 people were shot there.
At the Las Vegas Convention Center, where a large new wing was expected to open in time for the big consumer electronics show in early January, authorities opened a facility for people receiving their second dose of the vaccine. CES was held virtually.
Up and down the Strip, from the renovated Sahara to the sparkling Mandalay Bay with gilded windows, visitors found quiet gaming floors, closed showrooms and cheap rates.
Daniel Pangau, pastor of an Indonesian Christian church in Brea, California, estimated that a three-day stay at the Delano hotel for his family of six would cost less than half the price before the pandemic.
Tourists find plenty of parking and signs everywhere, reminding them to wear masks. They do not see the thousands of workers still without a job.
When the casinos closed in mid-March, 98% of the 60,000 members of the local culinary associations and bartenders were released. Union spokeswoman Bethany Khan said that only about half are back at work now.
At least 115 union members and close relatives have died of COVID-19, and nearly 2,000 have been hospitalized with the virus since March, Khan said.
Nevada unemployment soared from an all-time low of 3.6% in February 2020 to the country’s worst record of 30.1% in April. The number fell to 9.2% in December.
From mid-March to January 30, more than 834,000 people filed for unemployment benefits for the first time, according to the state unemployment agency. This figure is especially surprising when compared to the size of the entire state workforce a year ago – 1.4 million people.
The number of visitors decreased by more than half in 2020 – just 19 million – compared to 42.5 million in 2019, according to data compiled by tourism, airport and gambling regulatory agencies.
Tax revenue from casinos, an important source of funds in a state without personal income tax, fell 40% during the calendar year, regulators of the game said.
The big conventions stopped completely in March and have not been resumed. Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak allowed casinos to reopen in June, with restrictions on the pandemic crowd. In November, he instituted what he called a “break” at reopening.
Citing progress against the virus, the governor announced on Thursday that restrictions on business and meetings could be loosened in the next three months.
Casinos, gyms, bars and restaurants will increase from 25% to 35% of capacity as of Monday, with seating limits, mask mandates and necessary social distance. Casinos can reach 50% capacity in the next month. Clubs and nightclubs remain closed.
When the program resumes, some veteran artists may be gone, said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino executive who is now a member of the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
“A number yet to be measured is the loss of talent,” said Feldman. “To what extent have people followed other careers, returned to school or left the state? This remains to be determined. “