Las Vegas Casinos Are Open At 50% Capacity After Lockdown

 Las Vegas Casinos Are Open At 50% Capacity

After a 90% drop in visitors during its lockdown, the Las Vegas area has spent the summer trying to regain its economic footing while battling a resurgence of the coronavirus that is straining the health care system.

Even with recent gains in slowing the spread, Nevada still has one of the highest rates of new infections relative to its population in the country, rivaling some of the hardest hit southern states. Its positivity rate — another key metric — shows more than 15% of tests are coming back positive.

Last week, Nevada's Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak warned the state was in a "precarious position" as it moved from a statewide "phased" approach to a more targeted, long-term mitigation plan.

An NPR analysis shows that the rapid growth in new cases relative to the number of hospital beds available in the Las Vegas area could signal a problem. The region's hospitals are not near capacity yet, but some individual facilities have been getting close, according to the Nevada Hospital Association.

Mason VanHouweling, CEO of the large public hospital University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, said Las Vegas has surge plans in place to add more beds, if necessary.

"We have the convention center that can flex up to 900 beds. We've also engaged hotels and other facilities, but we just haven't had to execute those plans fortunately," VanHouweling said.

Nevada's hospitalizations for COVID-19 are gradually decreasing, after rising sharply last month.

When casinos reopened on June 4, Nevada was averaging between 100 to 200 new coronavirus cases a day. By mid July, that number had shot up to more than 1,000.

Still, VanHouweling says he's encouraged that hospitals have managed the influx of patients and doesn't foresee that an increase in tourism will jeopardize the health care system or public health response.

"It's a great time to come, there's great bargains," he said. "I just know from an infectious disease standpoint, they have done a great job in all of our resorts and casinos."

In order to stay open, Nevada casinos are required to reduce capacity by 50% and to keep customers and staff socially distanced and wearing facemasks, among other things.