Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak responds to a question during a news conference at the Sawyer State Building in Las Vegas,Tuesday, March 17, 2020. Sisolak ordered a monthlong closure of casinos and other non-essential businesses in order to stem the spread of the new coronavirus (COVID-19).
Monday, April 27, 2020 | 9:57 a.m.
Gov. Steve Sisolak announced today that Nevada will join Washington, Oregon and California in the Western States Pact — a coalition of governors with a shared vision to slowly reopen their economies while fighting COVID-19.
Sisolak said the partnership will help in “sharing critical information and best practices on how to mitigate the spread” of the coronavirus. Colorado is joining the pact as well.
“Millions of visitors from our fellow Western states travel to Nevada every year as a premier tourism destination, and this partnership will be vital to our immediate recovery and long-term economic comeback,” he said in a statement.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced a shared vision for gradually reopening their respective states earlier this month. These shared principles include: prioritizing the health and safety of residents, guiding their decisions to modify stay-at-home orders with science (not politics), and that they will only be effective if they work together.
“We need to see a decline in the rate of spread of the virus before large-scale reopening, and we will be working in coordination to identify the best metrics to guide this,” the agreement states.
The pact also outlines four goals: protecting vulnerable populations in places like nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, ensuring hospitals are at adequate surge capacity for supplies and personal protective equipment, mitigating COVID-19 impacts on marginalized communities and establishing expanded testing, contact tracing and isolation.
Last week, Sisolak announced criteria for slowly reopening nonessential businesses in Nevada, which includes a downward trajectory of of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations over a 14-day period, maintained hospital capacity without crisis standards of care, a sustained ability to protect vulnerable populations and confirmed protective measures in places of business. He did not announce a concrete date on when an incremental reopening would happen.
The shutdown order in place is scheduled to last through at least Thursday, but likely will be extended.
