Las Vegas Casinos ‘Clearly Not Ready to Reopen,’ Says State’s Governor

The governor of Nevada, has said casinos in the state are “clearly not ready to reopen” following protests in parts of the United States insisting COVID-19 lockdown measures be eased.

Las Vegas mayor, Carolyn Goodman, drew widespread criticism on Wednesday when she gave an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. She was advocating for the city’s casinos to reopen in an effort to boost the local economy despite the ongoing pandemic and said:

“I offered to be a control group and I was told by our statistician you can’t do that because people from all parts of southern Nevada come in to work in the city and I said, ‘Oh, that’s too bad because I know when you have a disease, you have a placebo that gets the water and the sugar and then you get those that actually get the shot.’

“We would love to be that placebo side so you have something to measure against.”

Broadcaster Cooper immediately objected to those comments and called Goodman’s words “really ignorant” after she added: “This isn’t China. This is Las Vegas, Nevada.”

Nevada governor Steve Sisolak spoke with Cooper following Goodman’s interview and said his state was “clearly not ready to reopen” and will not be used as a control group.

Michelle L. Price of the Associated Press reported on protests taking place Friday on the Las Vegas strip, asking that the city be reopened:

https://twitter.com/michellelprice/status/1253796664977969153

The Nevada Gaming Control Board recently issued guidelines detailing the process that will be required to reopen casinos when the lockdown is eased.