New Mitigation Strategy Replaced the Reopening Plan in Nevada

Nevada state officials presented a new strategy aiming at reducing the spread of COVID-19 and monitoring businesses. The new strategy will replace the phased reopening plan from next week.

Governor Sisolak: “No more phases”

At a press conference in Carson City yesterday, Governor Steve Sisolak announced that the phased reopening plan will be replaced with a “long-term mitigation strategy.” The phased business reopening plan was introduced by state officials back in March. Along with “non-essential” businesses closure aiming at reducing the spread of COVID-19, the phased plan introduced a strategy for the reopening of all affected businesses.

Until recently, the Silver State followed the plan in question. But starting from next week, the new strategy will be implemented. The new strategy will focus on COVID-19 outbreaks and spread within specific businesses and areas. This will effectively allow the state officials to implement more efficient virus-prevention methods which will help reduce the spread of COVID-19. In addition, the state will be able to identify businesses which are high-risk and if necessary introduce restrictions to those businesses.

The Importance of the Silver State’s Casinos

At the press conference, Governor Sisolak said that he was in the fight against COVID-19 along with all affected sides for the last five months. “The time for education is over,” said Governor Sisolak. He added: “If people aren’t following the rules to keep us safe, there needs to be consequences.“

Governor Sisolak also stressed the importance of casinos for Nevada by saying: “Obviously casinos are our largest employer.” Furthermore, he outlined that state officials and casino operators are collaborating on the implementation of mitigation measures. At the same time, casinos are being monitored and will keep being monitored, said the governor.

Another topic discussed at the press conference was the reopening of schools. The Governor said that upon discussing the matter with the superintendents, a decision was made for them to create their own plan for reopening.

COVID-19 Not Going Away from the Silver State

On July 10 this month, following a few surges in positive coronavirus (COVID-19) cases, Governor Sisolak ordered the shutdown of bars in 7 counties. Two weeks later, the bars that do not serve food in Lyon, Lander and Humboldt County were allowed to reopen.

Last week, a report by the Center for Public Integrity prepared for the White House Coronavirus Task Force emerged. Within the report, Nevada was labeled as a “red zone” due to the number of positive COVID-19 cases. With that in mind, local news outlet News 3 LV reported yesterday that there have been some 899 new COVID-19 cases as well as 5 deaths in Clark County alone.

On the other hand, the total positive cases for Nevada are close to 44,000. This places the Silver State in the middle of the chart of total positive COVID-19 cases along with Missouri and Colorado who have similar amount of reported cases.