Nevada: face masks remain optional for casino customers

Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairwoman Sandra Douglass Morgan said Monday that state regulators will not require casino guests to wear face coverings, at least for the time being. On the other hand, the Southern Nevada Health District urged businesses to require patrons to wear face masks to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus. 

The Health District didn’t single out any industry but said “businesses have a moral obligation to protect this community by implementing policies that require their patrons to wear masks in public areas,” Las Vegas Sun reports. It recommends all residents and visitors wear cloth face coverings in public, especially in situations with social distancing is challenged.

“While growing evidence is showing that face coverings can be one of the most effective tools for slowing community transmission of the virus, unfortunately, it has faced opposition from limited segments of the population and reluctancy from some local business to properly request it from its patrons,” Dr. Fermin Leguen, the acting chief health officer of the Health District, said in a statement.

In Nevada, businesses have been allowed to start reopening in phases starting May 9, with casinos getting the green light to resume operation on June 4. At casinos, employees are wearing face coverings in accordance with health and safety protocols, but patrons aren’t required to follow suit.

In a visit to Wynn Las Vegas on June 5, the day after casinos reopened their doors after 78 days of being shuttered, Gov. Steve Sisolak said at least half of the visitors he saw when touring casinos that day had masks on. In a late Monday press conference, he reiterated that masks for casino customers would continue on a voluntary basis.

“Employees are all wearing masks and they’re going out of their way to encourage customers to wear masks,” Sisolak said. “They’re even offering incentives to get customers to wear masks. Some of them are more successful than others. We’re going to continue to pursue it right now on a voluntary basis.”

"Licensees must have masks available for patrons and should strongly encourage patrons to wear them," Morgan said in a statement Monday. "These policies were created and implemented based on guidance from medical professionals and from the state’s testing data, testing capacity, and contact tracing. If that data changes and our percentage of positive cases increase, the Nevada Gaming Control Board would consider additional measures to ensure our health care system is not overburdened."

Individual properties can require face coverings and some have ordered table game players to do that. Caesars Entertainment Corp. properties require players at tables at Caesars Palace, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Flamingo and The Linq Hotel to wear masks when they sit down to play.