LAS VEGAS (AP) – A New Year’s Eve gathering in an indoor Las Vegas casino mall that is expected to be attended by at least 14,000 people could be a hospital-wide spread, members of Nevada’s coronavirus task force said Said Tuesday.
Nevada COVID-19 Response Director Caleb Cage said plans for the Fremont Street Experience’s annual event could hamper the state’s ability to curb the virus amid a steady increase in hospitalizations.
“It seems very much like the city has worked very hard to protect the spirit and letter of the guidelines as they are written,” he said.
Since November, Nevada has had limited opportunities at events up to 25% or 50 people to contain the virus. Cage said the event in Fremont Street not only violates current restrictions, but will also not be allowed under any of the past ten months’ looser restrictions.
Nevada’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration denied Fremont Street Experience a permit to host its annual celebration, but the city of Las Vegas issued a special use permit so it could charge access and enforce crowd control.
City spokesman David Riggleman said Las Vegas, by issuing a special use permit, did not approve of any event, but acknowledged that many were planning to gather in a public place and make it as safe as possible. to try to make possible.
“People are coming to the Fremont Street Experience and the question for the city was: What is it going to do to prepare for the fact that people are coming?” says Wesley Harper, executive director of the Nevada League of Cities, who spoke on behalf of Las Vegas. “If they’re coming, let’s do a few things to try to make it as responsible as possible.”
Harper begged officials to view the event as a ‘protest’ that could not be stopped without violating the first amendment. He said the cost of $ 25 was not for tickets, but for a ‘service fee’ to subsidize the cost of the necessary law enforcement.
Fremri Street Experience, PR representative Terri Maruca declined to comment.
According to the website of the outdoor shopping center, everyone should wear a mask at all times and stay 6 meters apart. Unlike recent years, Thursday’s event will not include street performers or live music. But guests can watch a light show, see the Slotzilla Zoomline and walk the corridor’s six blocks. Guests of Fremont Street hotels are also allowed on site for parties.
Marilyn Kirkpatrick, chair of the Clark County Commission, told the state task force that she was concerned that the opportunity could push hospitals in the Las Vegas area beyond their means. In Clark County, 87% of licensed hospital beds – including 78% of ICU beds – were occupied as of Monday, the most recent data available.
Kirkpatrick said she was worried it would be hospitals and their staff, rather than street party goers on New Year’s Eve, who would pay the price for the event. Although it does not fall under provincial jurisdiction, she said she intends to ask organizers to reduce the size of the event to 7,000 and cancel the light show.
Kelly McMahill, deputy chief of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, said at a Tuesday news conference that officers should not apply Nevada’s mask mandate and / or social distance on New Year’s Eve, but they plan to ask pedestrians to to come.
“We welcome you to have a good time, but we also do not want to send ourselves back for months in this pandemic where more and more people are going to the hospital and we are going to close the city,” McMahill said.
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Sam Metz is a member of the corps for the Associated Press / Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service program that puts journalists in local newsrooms to cover hidden issues.