Wynn Las Vegas reports 548 COVID-19 employee cases, three deaths

Wynn Las Vegas has recorded 497 positive COVID-19 cases and three deaths among employees since the resort reopened in June.

Wynn Resorts on Thursday revealed the data tied to the company’s testing and contact tracing program, which tests groups of up to 700 employees every two weeks. With the help of University Medical Center, the company has conducted 15,051 tests, aiming to catch any employees who are positive for the virus but asymptomatic. Of those tests, there have been 548 positive cases – a positivity rate of 3.6%. Of the total, 51 positive cases were recorded pre-reopening and 497 were post-reopening (a 3.3% positivity rate), according to the company.

Wynn Las Vegas has hosted more than 500,000 guests since reopening in early June. Six guests have tested positive, according to the company.

In a press release, Wynn Resorts claimed the company is seeing a significant downward trend in virus positivity rates since it began its “Pre-employment and Surveillance Testing Programs.” “In fact, in the recent round of surveillance testing conducted on Sept. 11, only one out of 285 employees tested positive,” the release said. Wynn Resorts contends contact tracing results showed 98% of employees who tested positive got the virus outside of work.  

Ten employees are dedicated full-time to contact tracing for positive employee cases, the company said. The team interviews infected employees and works with security to review surveillance coverage.

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox said: "Our goal, by implementing our Surveillance Testing Program and establishing a robust in-house contact tracing effort, is to make Wynn Las Vegas the safest place our guests and employees can go outside of their own homes.” 

The company offered support and financial aid to families of the three employees who died, a Wynn Resorts spokeswoman said, Reno Gazette-Journal reports.

In Clark County, home of The Strip, more than 63,000 positive COVID-19 cases have been recorded. Statewide, Nevada has logged more than 74,000 cases.