The Las Vegas Strip, in many ways a potential Coronavirus petri dish
During and after the 2008 Bush Great Recession, Nevada and its most populous city, Las Vegas, were hit especially hard. Home prices tumbled, foreclosures and home abandonments exploded, unemployment went through the roof, and construction dried up. Now during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Las Vegas faces even greater odds. At least during the Great Recession, visitors who had the means to visit Las Vegas could still do so, and workplaces that could stay in business financially weren’t forced to close for outside reasons. This time around, however, even folks who are flush with cash aren’t feeling lucky enough to get on an airplane, fly to Vegas, stay in a hotel, and partake of all of the options there, such as gambling, dining, dancing, etc. Hotels, restaurants, casinos and attractions are almost all closed. Conferences, sports events and concerts have been canceled. That puts many thousands of people in the area out of work, and worried about whether Las Vegas can ever recover from its Coronavirus hit, let alone recover in time to save the economy, their jobs and their homes.
Some of that desperation was noticeable last week, when Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman told Anderson Cooper on CNN that she wants to reopen the city without mandated preconditions:
Goodman: I’d love everything open because I think we’ve had viruses for years [sic] have been here….
Cooper: So you don’t believe that there should be any social distancing?
Goodman: Of course I believe there should be. Of course.
Cooper: How do you do that in a casino?
Goodman: That’s up to them to figure out, I don’t own a casino.
Cooper: So if you can’t figure out how to do this safely, why, as mayor of a city that you are responsible for the people’s safety, are you calling for something that you have no plan for how it would be done safely?
Goodman: I am not a private owner, that’s the competition in this country, the free enterprise to be able to make sure that what you offer the public meets the needs of the public. Right now we’re in a crisis health-wise, and so for a restaurant to be open, or a small boutique to be open, they better figure it out, that’s their job, that’s not the mayor’s job.
Goodman, a registered Independent, essentially took the Republican laissez-faire position in her interview. This is quite different than the “Good Government” posture currently adopted by many Democratic elected officials. For example, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has distinguished himself as a leader during this crisis, with steps that include instituting thorough “stay at home” retrictions and asking for more federal assistance.
This difference in governing philosophy is also playing out at the presidential level. For example, Donald Trump has been pushing for states to “reopen” even though Coronavirus is still growing in the U.S., with over one million cases and more than 56,000 deaths, with little tapering in sight (plus any such tapering could be attributed to the “stay at home” orders which Trump opposes). In contrast, Democrat Joe Biden is calling for major, nationwide steps, such as:
the wide availability of free testing; the elimination of all cost barriers to preventive care and treatment for COVID-19; the development of a vaccine; and the full deployment and operation of necessary supplies, personnel, and facilities.
Right now, therefore, there is a split of opinion on how and when Las Vegas and other parts of Nevada (as well as other states) should handle reopening. Will consumers want to hinge their safety on the Roulette wheel of guessing which places of business, as Mayor Goodman suggests, have “figure[d] out” how to operate in a completely harmless way? Or will these locales need to take a more measured approach that is carefully coordinated by local and state, if not federal, officials, i.e., the Democratic way, in order for customers to feel safe enough to show up even if they are permitted to do so?
In many ways, what happens in Vegas does not stay in Vegas, but rather, is reflective of what can happen to the rest of America. For that reason, in this case, we’re hoping for a win.
Photo by Willem van Valkenburg, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/Rubceu
