Nevada extends indoor mask mandate for employees to all casino visitors

Nevada’s health leaders confirmed Tuesday that the state will adopt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s updated mask guidelines on Friday, regardless of individual’s vaccination statuses. The Nevada Gaming Control Board added issued guidance Tuesday afternoon, and said that resorts must make sure “all employees, patrons, and guests properly utilize face coverings”. 

Casinos must also put up signage indicating masks are required, according to the notice. 

The new mask guideline will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Friday July 30. This overrides the employee mask mandate, which kicked in nearly two weeks ago. 

A large portion of Nevada, including Clark’s County and Washoe, has become one of the areas in which transmission is, as the CDC said on Tuesday, “substantial and high”. As the health agency requested, any areas that present high rises of Covid cases should have all its fully vaccinated citizens wear masks indoors when in public. 

Nevada Health Response officials issued a statement that reads: “To allow communities and businesses in counties with substantial or high transmission time to implement the new requirements, today, Governor Sisolak issued Emergency Directive 047, which allows a three-day grace period to implement the new State mask mandate, meaning that Tuesday’s updates from the CDC will formally go into effect on Friday, July 30, 2021. Businesses and residents in counties with substantial or high transmission are strongly urged to adopt the changes as soon as possible”.

During a news briefing Tuesday, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said vaccinated people could spread the Delta variant more easily than previous versions of COVID-19, 8 News Now Las Vegas reports.

The Community Profile Report labels Clark County as an “area of concern” and a “sustained hot spot” for coronavirus transmission. The number of new COVID-19 hospitalized patients in Nevada increased on Monday, as the state reported 1,124 new cases and 17 deaths in data released on Tuesday.

Nevada’s test positivity rate is now at 13.7%, up from 13.5%, and following Clark County’s steadily increasing rate of 14.9%. As of Tuesday, 47% of Nevadans 12 or older were fully vaccinated, according to state data. In Clark County, that number was slightly lower at about 46%.