Nevada lifted its statewide mask mandate Thursday ahead of the Super Bowl weekend, just as hotel occupancy has picked up after a January slowdown caused by the omicron variant.
Gov. Steve Sisolak’s announcement comes on the heels of governors in other states this week doing the same. California, New Jersey, and New York are among several states ending mask mandates in some form over the next month.
One hour after Sisolak’s press conference, Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman Brin Gibson issued a notice to casinos to make it official.
“Pursuant to Governor Sisolak’s Emergency Directive 052, effective immediately, individuals are no longer required to wear a mask in public indoor settings in licensed gaming establishments, unless a local jurisdiction still imposes such a requirement,” Gibson said. “If a licensee is subject to a local jurisdiction’s requirement relating to masks, the Board expects full compliance from the licensee.”
The end of the mask mandate is welcome news to Las Vegas casinos, which have been pushing for its elimination, even though it hasn’t been rigorously enforced as of late. Despite record gaming revenues, casino executives said during fourth-quarter earnings calls that the mask mandate has kept some visitors from returning to Las Vegas.
Even with a mask mandate, casino executives said they were bullish on 2022, expecting increased visitation and the return of convention business as the omicron wave dissipates.
On Wednesday, MGM Resorts International announced that its Las Vegas hotel occupancy reached 86% in the fourth quarter. That dipped to 66% on the Strip in January, but occupancy so far in February is in the mid-70% range. With forward bookings, it’s on track for the mid-80% range in March.
Brendan Bussmann, a partner with casino-consultant Global Market Advisors, said the state is lifting a restriction that inhibited some people from coming to Las Vegas. It brings clarity to what the rest of the country has done, since more than 80% of the country doesn’t have a mask mandate in place, he said.
“Provided there aren’t any surprises, it bodes well for a good spring and helps visitation,” Bussmann said. “It will help leisure customers, the convention business, and business customers to return in a more significant way and, more importantly, the international segment.”
Bussmann cited MGM Resorts International CEO Bill Hornbuckle, who said on the earnings call Wednesday that he had dinner with a player who hadn’t been back in two years.
“We have to figure out a way to move forward and part of that is lifting these restrictions,” Bussman said. “It has put the gaming industry in a quandary with what they have to face with customers.”
Andrew M. Klebanow, a principal with C3 Gaming, said the mask mandate had so many loopholes for smoking, drinking, and eating that it became “COVID mitigation theater.” He agreed that eliminating it will help with visitation.
“The mask mandate put Nevada casinos at a competitive disadvantage with tribal casinos in California and Arizona that had previously lifted their mask mandates earlier in the pandemic,” Klebanow said. “For many out-of-state gamblers, it made more sense to visit their local properties than to drive to Nevada.”
Willy Allison, founder of the World Game Protection Conference, is among those applauding the drop of the mask mandate ahead of his event for the gaming industry that runs Feb. 15-17 at the Tropicana Las Vegas. He said, however, that omicron, rather than any mask mandate, has curtailed attendance this year, after shows in 2020 and 2021 were canceled due to the pandemic.
Allison said his signups through Dec. 31 were the third highest in the show’s 15-year history, but signups had fallen off in January due to nervousness over rising cases that averaged more than 700,000 nationwide. He said that frightened people, but now with cases declining, shows in April and beyond should do well.
“Since more than 80% of the country doesn’t have a mask mandate, it didn’t make sense that the state they all travel to had one,” Allison said. “For a customer experience, it’s great. The awkwardness of everybody having to wear a mask during training and classes was going to be a challenge. They’re going to be at ease and not be worried about breaking rules. It doesn’t have any impact on my business, because it’s too late, if it had an effect in the first place, which I don’t think it did. But it’s very positive for us coming into the show next week. It means there’s a degree of normalcy since we hadn’t had a show in three years.”
Allison said he expects between 350 to 400 people to attend the conference that draws people internationally. There will be another 100 to 150 people who are part of the expo, he said. International attendance is down by half, but the show still has signups from 12 countries outside of the U.S.
“Our normal number is between 500 and 600 conference attendees,” Allison said. “I’m happy with that, considering the scary numbers of daily reported cases in January.”
Sisolak’s move was applauded by the Nevada Resort Association and its president and CEO Virginia Valentine, who called it an important step forward.
“We’re pleased to see the health metrics improving and recognize the significance of today’s announcement as further progress toward a return to normalcy and Nevada’s full economic recovery,” Valentine said. “As always, the resort industry will continue to comply with all state and local COVID requirements and guidance to ensure the health and safety of its employees and guests. We encourage individuals to get vaccinated and boosted as it remains the best protection against COVID and its variants.”
Sisolak said during his press conference that Nevada’s mandates and restrictions have put businesses through “a lot” and hopes eliminating the mask mandate will increase business and bring more people into the workforce.
“The economy has come back tremendously,” Sisolak said. “You’ve seen it in our gaming numbers with more than $1 billion a month (in gaming revenue) for 10 months in a row. They continue to move forward (under the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission. I am hopeful businesses will continue to prosper.”
Sisolak reinstated its mask mandate in late July following a recommendation to do so by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, when cases of the delta variant started to rise. Nevada didn’t have a mask mandate when it reopened casinos in June 2020, but added one later in the summer of 2020 that remained in place until its temporary removal in May 2021 at the CDC’s recommendation when vaccination rates rose.
The CDC, however, has yet to change its mask recommendation, despite a drastic decline in omicron cases. Even though the variant is considered milder, because of its higher infection rate, the number of daily deaths is higher than it was last spring.
Nationwide, the seven-day average of deaths has exceeded 2,500 a day and more than 900,000 people have died during the pandemic.
On Wednesday, Clark County reported 715 new cases and 31 deaths.
Sisolak said the CDC’s recommendation no longer applies to Nevada.
“We have seen a rapid decline in case numbers coupled with declining hospitalization, a drop in COVID-19 detected in wastewater and a broader availability in testing and treatments,” Sisolak said.
Sisolak said Nevada had its highest day of new cases on Jan. 10 with 7,865, but it’s now averaging about 1,280 cases per day and 800 fewer people were hospitalized Wednesday than at the peak of the surge.
Klebanow said Nevada’s emergency directive regarding mask mandates had been driven by data, relying on a number of indices, including the positivity rate. That’s no longer the case.
“Last summer’s surge and the dramatic rise in the positivity rate forced the governor to reinstitute mask mandates,” Klebanow said. “The two-week positivity rate in Clark County has remained stubbornly high and had skyrocketed during the omicron surge, and while it’s now dropping, it’s still well above 20 percent, so the motivation to lift indoor mask mandates appears to be driven by other factors. The reality is that Nevadans and visitors to the state have grown weary of these mandates and now just want to get back to a normal life.”
