Sahara Las Vegas closes cafe after 3 employees test positive for COVID-19

The Sahara Las Vegas closed its Northside Café after three employees tested positive for COVID-19, the casino hotel said in a Friday statement.  

“The balance of the Northside team has been sent to be tested for the virus, which has led to closure of the venue until test results are made available,” the statement said. “Negative test results will be needed for team members to return to work.”

The closing of the Northside Café follows several other closures reported along the Las Vegas Strip in recent days, as reported by Reno Gazette Journal. Last week, two Flamingo employees tested positive for the coronavirus, and restaurants inside the Bellagio and Linq Hotel – including Guy Fieri's Las Vegas Kitchen Bar – closed after workers there got COVID-19.

Hotel-casino guests are not required to wear masks in all public areas, but Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said he would support local leaders who set stricter restrictions and encourag business owners to mandate employees and customers to wear face masks. “We’re not in a post-COVID time,” Sisolak said last week. “We’re in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic. We’re right dead-smack in the middle of it.”

The state’s most powerful labor union is now calling for state leaders to require visitors to wear masks in all public spaces at hotel-casinos to protect workers. "Workers have fears," Culinary Union Secretary-Treasurer Geoconda Argüello-Kline said Monday.

Argüello-Kline demanded that Nevada officials follow the lead of California, where Gov. Gavin Newsom announced last week that citizens now must cover their mouths and noses in most indoor settings and outdoors when social distancing isn't possible.

Nevada reported 330 new cases of COVID-19 on Monday, bringing the total to 13,535 known cases. Health officials also reported three additional deaths on Monday, bringing the total number of people who’ve died from coronavirus to 489.