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Ask the Slot Expert: Covid restrictions coming back to Las Vegas?21 July 2021
Last week I wrote that the script of the nightly Covid update on the local news has changed. Before reopening on June 1, the reporters introduced the update by saying that the statistics (7-day average of new cases, positivity rate) were declining and were the lowest numbers seen all year. Now the introduction is that the statistics are continuing to climb and we haven't seen numbers this high since.... Last Friday the Southern Nevada Health District (SNHD) recommended that everyone, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask indoors. The spokesman for the SNHD made a great statement during the announcement (Southern Nevada Health District recommending masks in crowded indoor public places). He said that even though the mask recommendation was primarily for the benefit of the unvaccinated, it benefits the vaccinated too. The more the virus circulates, the greater the chance that a vaccinated person will have a breakthrough infection. Dr. Fauci said the same thing in testimony today (July 20). A reporter asked about this recommendation's going against the CDC's guidelines. I've heard the same statement about recommending masks even for the vaccinated in other areas. I guess these people never read the CDC's guidelines. Quoting from the CDC website (Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People), emphasis mine: Fully vaccinated people can resume activities without wearing masks or physically distancing, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance. The CDC never said that vaccinated people shouldn't wear masks. It also said that local conditions may make masks mandatory even for the vaccinated. Another reporter asked if this was a mask mandate. He said that the SNHD does not have authority to issue a mask mandate. That would have to come from the county. The Clark County Board of Commissioners called an emergency meeting for today (7/20) to discuss whether to reinstate some Covid restrictions. Well, duh! If it made sense to have some restrictions when the statistics were falling, doesn't it make even more sense to have them when the statistics are rising? Another lockdown is highly unlikely. We were able to have a long streak of declining statistics without a lockdown. Some talking heads also think that the commissioners won't impose capacity restrictions again. Most likely is another universal mask mandate. (I would add the recommendation for physical distancing from others not in your household.) Some man-on-the-street interviews have had people complaining about the SNHD recommendation to wear a mask again. Have they seen what healthcare workers wear when they go into the Covid ward? You'd think that putting on a mask is like donning a full hazmat suit. I continue to wear a mask indoors despite being fully vaccinated. I think it keeps other players from playing near me. They don't know whether I'm vaccinated, so they keep their distance. This ploy worked well until a week or so ago when a couple sat down to play the two middle games between me and another player at the aisle machines. They were unmasked. I don't know whether they were vaccinated, so I moved to another bank. Then, someone sat down to play the machine next to mine even though the other two machines in the bank were unoccupied. Somewhere between 40% and 50% of Clark County's residents have been fully vaccinated. That means about half the people I see indoors should still be wearing masks. I'd guess it's more like a third of the people I see in the casino. There are many out-of-state cars in the Red Rock parking garage, but not enough to drive the percentage of fully vaccinated people in the casino to 67%. The CDC guideline that fully vaccinated people did not need to wear masks did not turn out to be an incentive for the unvaccinated to get vaccinated. Instead, it's a get-out-of-jail-free card for the unvaccinated to ditch their masks. I just caught the last 20 or so minutes of the Clark County Board of Commissioners meeting. I'm surprised that there was very little sense of urgency for an emergency meeting. The main action that came out of this meeting is that all employees in public indoor spaces have to wear a mask until at least August 17. And that establishments should have signage giving the SNHD's recommendation that everyone mask up regardless of vaccination status. Useless. As if the cause of the surge in Las Vegas is unmasked workers and not the low vaccination rate in the county and the huge number of unmasked residents and visitors who may or may not be vaccinated. Something more is going to have to be done. Some jurisdictions are now recommending against travel to Las Vegas. Convention organizers are getting skittish about planning future events. More than one commissioner said that organizers are asking what the county is doing to get Covid back under control. One commissioner, Ross Miller, suggested (I hope I have this right) that the county set up a system similar to DEFCON in War Games. I'm paraphrasing and expanding on what he said. If the statistics are below a certain level, we don't need any restrictions. As they rise, more restrictions are put in place. Everything is publicly available: the levels, the restrictions, the statistics. The meeting ended with a public comments section. One fellow said there was no evidence that masks or vaccines were effective. I guess he hasn't heard about all the clinical trials conducted in getting authorization for the vaccines. Some health officials have danced around saying why the Delta variant is surging. I wish a health official or politician would say it explicitly:
Click here for the latest Covid data. Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert™, at slotexpert@slotexpert.com. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.
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