LAS VEGAS (AP) – Casino owner MGM Resorts International is bringing the coronavirus vaccine to its Las Vegas Strip employees by opening an inoculation clinic at the Mandalay Bay resort convention center. Easing vaccine availability for perhaps thousands of hotel and hospitality workers in Nevada’s tourism-dependent city comes with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, setting a July 1 date to return to in-person activities and city workers fanning out following the lifting of sports restrictions to install basketball hoops again at city parks.
MGM Resorts, the largest employer in Nevada, had more than 50,000 workers before closures began in March 2020 to stem the spread of COVID-19. As the pandemic continued, the company laid off about one in four of its 70,000 employees nationwide. Not all employees have returned to work.
MGM Resorts has nine significant resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. It also offers vaccinations to workers at its MGM Grand Detroit hotel-casino. In a statement on Tuesday, company spokesman Brian Ahern called vaccinations “a critically important tool in helping to end the pandemic and accelerate our community’s economic recovery.”
“We’re committed to doing all that we can to help get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible by removing barriers to access and bringing vaccination clinics directly to our employees,” the statement said.
Clark County Fire Chief Greg Cassell, head of the Southern Nevada Health District vaccination effort, noted that casinos, entertainment, restaurants, and associated businesses are crucial to the Las Vegas tourism economy.
He said MGM Resorts would initially be allotted enough vaccine to administer 700 vaccinations a day for five days, or 3,500 doses, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. The company vaccinated 1,000 employees during a two-day pilot program last week.
According to the Nevada Department of Health and Human Services, more than 18% of people ages 16 and older have been vaccinated. The health district reported nearly 920,000 vaccine doses had been administered in Clark County, and about 334,000 people have completed vaccinations. That’s about 14.4% of the regional Las Vegas population of 2.3 million. 18% of people ages 16 and older have been vaccinated. Vaccination eligibility has expanded in tiers since mid-December. It will open to everyone age 16 and older on April 5.
Nevada has tallied nearly 303,500 cases of COVID-19 in the last year, including 221 patients reported Tuesday. Two more deaths were reported statewide, bringing the number to 5,239.
The state’s 14-day positivity rate, which tracks the percentage of people tested for COVID-19 who are found to be infected, was 4.2%. That is below the World Health Organization goal of 5% before governments relax restrictions. Cassell estimated the casino, hotel, and hospitality industry in Las Vegas may have as many as 180,000 employees. “If everybody were willing to get vaccinated … I would think we would have a huge dent in this in three to four weeks,” he said.
Casino companies must submit clinic plans to the Nevada Gaming Control Board before the health district approves them. A board spokesperson declined to comment Monday.
Michael Weaver said that Wynn Resorts had vaccinated about 3,000 employees at a site operated by University Medical Center since mid-January at the Encore hotel.
In December, local casino operator Station Casinos opened permanent medical clinics for employees and their families at two of its ten properties in southern Nevada.
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