The masks return to Las Vegas, after regional health officials on Friday cited a growing number of coronavirus cases and advised everyone, vaccinated or not, to wear facial coatings to covered places.
The Southern Nevada Health District recommendation is not a requirement. But it affects casinos, concerts and clubs where business has grown since the restrictions were lifted and the state completely returned pandemic control measures to counties about seven weeks ago.
“Both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals should wear masks when in crowded public settings … such as grocery stores, shopping malls, big events and casinos, “said Dr. Fermin Leguen, the region’s chief Health official, told reporters.
He said the district does not have the authority to make masks mandatory, leaving that issue to the state, county and cities.
Vaccine clinics and testing continue in locations across the region, Leguen added.
Vaccination rates have stagnated in recent weeks in Nevada, a libertarian-leaning state, where health officials reported Friday that about 55 percent of residents 12 years of age or older have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Across the state, about 46.3% are completely vaccinated.
Nationally, 68% of adults have received at least one dose of vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A union official representing 60,000 Nevada casino employees issued a statement outlining the risks to workers who are not vaccinated.
The head of the Culinary Union, Geoconda Argüello-Kline, noted CDC data that more than 97% of people who have been hospitalized with COVID-19 have not received a vaccine.
The recommendation for masks in Las Vegas came after Nevada health officials reported 938 new cases of COVID-19 across the state on Thursday – the jump from a case of coronavirus larger than a day since February. and 15 new deaths.
It also followed a call from the Los Angeles head of public health for Californians to rethink plans to travel to Nevada until COVID-19 cases in Silver State dwindle.
Weekend visitors to Southern California have jammed Interstate 15 in recent months, the main route of the 435-kilometer (270-mile) journey between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“I want to recommend, especially if you’re not vaccinated, to reconsider traveling to places where COVID-19 case rates for seven days increase or are as high as Nevada, our neighbor,” Dr. Los Angeles County Commissioners told Dr. . Mount Davis.
Davis also recommended the use of masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak’s chief of staff, Michelle White, responded Thursday during a video conference with reporters with the suggestion that people travel to Nevada and get vaccinated.
“That’s why we’re working to make sure there are vaccination and testing sites located in places like the Las Vegas Strip. This is open to anyone, worker … visitor,” White said. “We have all three vaccines on offer, including one shot. If someone comes from out of state, this may be more convenient and we certainly encourage everyone to do so.”
The Department of Health and Human Services said the positivity of the test, a key marker of the percentage of people infected among people tested for the virus, had tripled from 3.4% five weeks ago to 10.9%. Thursday.
The positivity figure reported by the state Department of Health and Human Services was 12.3% in the Las Vegas area.
The number of new cases reported Friday in Nevada was 866 and six dead. This brought to 5,758 the number of lives lost in the state to COVID-19 since March 2020.
Most cases and deaths in Nevada during the pandemic have been in the Las Vegas area, where 2.3 million people live and receive tens of millions of visitors a year.
Friday, health officials in Washoe County said they had no plans to implement mask requirements or recommendations because the virus has not increased in the Reno-Sparks area to the extent it has in Las Vegas.
Elsewhere, local officials in Lander and Elko counties have recently focused on passing preventive resolutions against the vaccine passport.
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Citation: Officials advise wearing masks in Vegas as COVID cases increase (2021, July 16) recovered on July 16, 2021 at https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-07-masks-vegas-covid -cases.html
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