Nevada’s governor on Wednesday criticized organizers of a New Year’s Eve event at downtown Las Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience as being “plain irresponsible” for holding a planned 14,000-person gathering in the middle of a pandemic.
During an afternoon press conference to discuss the state’s effort to distribute its supply of COVID-19 vaccine, Gov. Steve Sisolak was asked about the event at the outdoor canopied casino-mall that was labeled at potential coronavirus superspreader event by members of Nevada’s coronavirus task force.
Task force members were worried the event, in which attendees are being charged $25 as a “service fee” to subsidize the cost of necessary law enforcement, would harm the state’s ability to contain the virus amid an ongoing surge in hospitalizations.
Sisolak said to “organize and promote a gathering with a ticket, or a fee, as if it’s business as usual, that’s just plain irresponsible.” He added that he understood during New Year’s Eve, particularly in Las Vegas, “it’ll be difficult to prevent the organic gatherings of people.”
Still, the governor implored individuals to avoid large gatherings, workers take precautions, businesses and local governments enforce rules, and visitors “respect our efforts to keep you and our employees safe.”
Hours after the governor’s remarks, “service fee” sales were seemingly halted by the Fremont Street Experience. On Thursday, organizers announced that they would restrict access to the public and only allow guests of surrounding hotels on the street after 6 p.m.
The mall’s public relations representative, Cassandra Downs, told The Associated Press the last-minute decision was made in consultation with health officials and that anyone who had purchased a ticket would be refunded.
Since November, Nevada has limited capacity at events to 25% or 50 people to contain the virus. Nevada COVID-19 response director Caleb Cage said the Fremont Street event violates the current restrictions. Also, the event wouldn’t be allowed under any of the state’s capacity restrictions that have been in place since March.
“COVID-19 is not going to take the night off to ring in the new year,” Sisolak said during the virtual press conference. “The current restrictions under the statewide ‘pause,’ which impose strict limits on capacity and gathering sizes, are still in place and there are no exceptions for these mitigation requirements on New Year’s Eve.”
Sisolak added that state enforcement authorities – including the Gaming Control Board – “will be out in force on New Year’s Eve to ensure measures are being followed.”
The annual New Year’s Eve event at Fremont Street Experience takes place along the six-block pedestrian mall that has entrances from several downtown casinos. The event is separate from the annual midnight fireworks show along the Las Vegas Strip, which has been canceled this year due to the pandemic.
Clark County’s Recovery Organization Enforcement Workgroup, which is made up of health officials, law enforcement, and representatives from city governments, denied Fremont Street Experience a permit to host its annual celebration. The City of Las Vegas, however, issued the venue a special-use permit so it could charge for access and enforce crowd control.
Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick told the state task force she was concerned the event could push Las Vegas-area hospitals beyond their capacity.
Fremont Street Experience is requiring everyone to wear a mask at all times and stay 6 feet away apart. Unlike in past years, the event will not include street performers or live music.
The Plaza Hotel Casino will host a midnight fireworks show while the newly opened Circa Casino Resort is holding a televised special event from the stage at its fifth-floor Stadium Swim pool venue to be broadcasted over CBS-TV’s Nexstar-owned affiliates across the west coast. On Wednesday, Circa owner Derek Stevens said the pool deck venue would be closed to guests because of the state’s mass gathering restrictions.
The coronavirus pandemic has decimated Nevada’s gaming and tourism numbers in 2020. Through November, Strip gaming revenues are down 42.6% and downtown gaming revenues are off 32.7%. Through November, Las Vegas visitation is down 54.5%.
December has already been a challenging month for Las Vegas casinos with the crowd-drawing National Finals Rodeo having relocated to Dallas for 2020.
(KSNV-TV in Las Vegas and Associated Press contributed to the report)
Howard Stutz is the executive editor of CDC Gaming. He can be reached at hstutz@cdcgaming.com. Follow @howardstutz on Twitter.
