Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman gives a prerecorded 2021 State of the City address.
Wednesday, March 17, 2021 | 12:17 p.m.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman asserted today there is no evidence business and school closures helped prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
"The science has not proven that complete shutdowns accomplished any more than more moderate, reasonable precautions," she said during today’s City Council meeting.
Goodman did not cite any scientific research but referenced statistics from the business data website Statista.
In mid-March 2020, Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered nonessential businesses, including casinos, closed for some two months. Schools in Clark County remained closed for nearly a year before students slowly started returning to class this month.
"If masks and social distancing are sufficient now to slow the spread of this virus, would that not have been sufficient a year ago?" Goodman said.
Pointing to Florida and Texas, Goodman said some states that took a more “moderate approach" had a lower death rate per 100,000 residents than others that took more aggressive measures like Michigan, New York and Nevada.
Goodman criticized Sisolak for ordering the shutdown without any vote by the Nevada Legislature.
"There is apparently no sunset on emergency powers bestowed to some governors, which smacks of tyranny," she said.
Goodman said she urged Sisolak’s office to keep schools open with temperature checks and other safety precautions but was dismissed. “I was harshly told he was not seeking input,” she said.
Goodman also called into question some pandemic restrictions that remain in place, such as occupancy limits on businesses.
"What is the rationale for continuing at 50% capacity with other precautions like mask mandates in place, in addition to increasing vaccinations?" she said.
Goodman instead called for a "return to personal responsibility and personal liberty."
"Those who do not want or choose to go out to public places are not forced to do so, just as those who do not want the vaccine are not forced to get it. Those who want to wear a mask — or two or three of them — are not prevented from wearing them," she said.
Goodman has made a number of comments — some controversial — criticizing the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
She suggested to CNN’s Anderson Cooper in April that Las Vegas could be used as a “control group” to see what would happen if casinos and other businesses were allowed to reopen.
The same month, she compared the virus to the common flu and downplayed the number of virus-related deaths. She said the 130 statewide deaths at the time did not warrant a shutdown that was “killing” the economy.
Since then, the number of coronavirus-related deaths in Nevada has risen to 5,147, the vast majority of them in the Las Vegas area.
