Las Vegas resorts already booking rooms despite shutdown being extended two weeks
LAS VEGAS – Nevada has extended its sweeping COVID-19 closure, keeping the Vegas Strip – the state’s central economic engine – shut down an extra two weeks, through April 30.Â
But resorts are still taking reservations in anticipation of a reopening.Â
“We want to be in a position to accept business at the point it is deemed appropriate to reopen,” said Caesars Entertainment spokesman Richard Broome.
Casesars closed nine properties on Las Vegas Boulevard – the iconic Flamingo and Caesars Palace among them – on March 18, when Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered the statewide shutdown of all casinos and other nonessential businesses to stem the spread of COVID-19.Â
The number of cases and deaths has since accelerated: Early Wednesday, health officials revealed numbers had ballooned to 1,279 positive test results and 31 deaths.
By mid-morning, Sisoslak extended the shutdown to April 30 and ordered Nevadans to stay at home to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Casino companies like Caesars and Wynn had been accepting room bookings on resort websites after April 17 – the end of Nevada’s first closure order.
The hotel-casino closures have led to unparalleled job losses throughout Nevada.
The Silver State recorded its largest percentage jump in weekly unemployment claims in more than three decades just a few days before Sisolak’s initial call for the closure of the state’s casinos and non-essential businesses.
The spike in statewide claims is unprecedented, reaching a level more than 10 times that seen during the Great Recession. Statewide, more than 92,000 people sought unemployment benefits last week.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. could reach a staggering 32.1% in the second quarter as 47 million workers are laid off amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to USA TODAY.Â
That would be the highest jobless rate on records dating to 1948 and easily top the 25% rate during the Great Depression.
Ed Komenda writes about Las Vegas for the Reno Gazette Journal and USA Today Network. Do you care about democracy? Then support local journalism by subscribing to the Reno Gazette Journal right here.Â
