Andres Delgado cleans a bar video poker machine as workers prepare for the midnight reopening of The D in downtown Las Vegas, Wednesday, June 3, 2020.
Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020 | 2 a.m.
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In developing the state’s vaccination strategy, Gov. Steve Sisolak would do well to give high priority to workers on the Las Vegas Strip and resort industry.
Placing those individuals No. 3 on the list, behind health care providers/first responders and residents of assisted-living facilities or with special vulnerabilities, would not only provide much-needed protection for the front-liners in our city’s resorts but would have health benefits for residents across the state. It also would put both Las Vegas and the state on a solid foundation for economic recovery.
Focusing early vaccination efforts on resort workers would benefit all of us health-wise. Although the resorts are operating at restricted capacity and have adopted protocols to protect against the spread of the disease, it’s not an iron-clad defense against contagion. In the unfortunate event that Strip employees become infected, they then can carry the disease into the community. Vaccinating them early — and that means everyone who works on the Strip, including entertainers — would do wonders for our defense against the pathogen. Obviously, it would also help keep our visitors, their own families and their communities safer, as infection is a two-way street.
Then there are the economic benefits, which would be significant.
Our recovery will only be as strong and swift as the return of tourism and convention traffic on the Strip, period. Having a healthy and protected workforce in the resort corridor will put us in position to restore the visitor volume we’ve lost this year.
As vacation and convention travel resumes and visitors make choices about where they want to go, health and safety will continue to be high priorities. Yes, vaccines are becoming available — perhaps as soon as the middle of this month, thank goodness — but it’s still going to take many, many months to fully roll out vaccinations.
By vaccinating the Strip’s workforce, Las Vegas would send a strong signal to visitors that they can have greater confidence in the safety of the city. Our city was built on our ability to care for those who come here: This would be perfectly in line with that heritage.
Sisolak made the right call in announcing that the first rounds of vaccinations would go to health care front-liners, elderly residents and those with preconditions, etc. The Strip and resort workers would be a logical next step, followed by front-liners elsewhere.
As we know all too well, the pandemic has put Las Vegas in a deeper hole than most communities. Our unemployment rate of 12% in November was nearly twice the national level of 6.7%, plunging thousands of local families into economic uncertainty while simultaneously forcing cutbacks in vital state social services. One especially telling statistic: The food insecurity rate has risen to one in five individuals in Southern Nevada from one in eight before the pandemic.
To address the crisis, it’s vital to craft a strategy that recognizes the unique nature of Nevada, where the Strip and our resorts are the primary economic engine for the entire state.
Vaccinating the men and women who keep that engine running is in the best interests of all Nevadans, from both a public health standpoint and to revive the economy as soon as possible.
