After being allowed to discard almost all of their coronavirus-related restrictions in May and the over 140 casinos in Las Vegas are reportedly in the midst of a renaissance courtesy of ever-increasing crowds and skyrocketing gaming revenues.

However, the Associated Press news service used a Saturday report to disclose that all of this success is being overshadowed by an associated steep rise in the local rate of coronavirus infections engendered by a potentially dangerous mix of crowded venues, absent social distancing restraints and vaccine scepticism.

Refreshing resurgence:

The news service reported that Las Vegas has chalked up double-digit surges in visitation numbers for the last four months including May’s 11.8% sequential boost to 2.9 million holidaymakers. This purportedly led casinos along the world-famous Las Vegas Strip to post a 26.7% swell in aggregated May gross gaming revenues when compared to the same pre-pandemic month in 2019 with venues in the local-friendly downtown market recording a similarly firm 13% improvement.

Pandemic pointers:

But the Associate Press reported that Nevada has seen its coronavirus diagnosis rate over the past two weeks hit 190 new cases for every 100,000 people with the recently-discovered ‘delta variant’ now being at fault for almost half of analyzed infections. This contagion ratio is purportedly higher than that seen in the states Arkansas, Wyoming and Missouri, all of which have lower vaccination levels, and has contributed to ‘The Silver State’ recording 44 associated deaths in the 14 days to Monday.

Identifiable impetus:

Nevada Chief Biostatistician Kyra Morgan reportedly told the news service that the past week has seen the number of Nevadans being hospitalized with coronavirus increase by 33% although levels are currently far below the near-capacity heights seen last December. She purportedly also disclosed that this spike may be partially attributable to the full re-opening of the state’s casinos and the return of crowds and big events to the Las Vegas Strip.

Morgan reportedly proclaimed…

“If we know anything about coronavirus, we know that when people are gathering in close proximity to one another in large volumes, that is the recipe for coronavirus transmission to increase.”

Immunization importance:

The Associated Press reported that local and state health officials believe that getting more people vaccinated against coronavirus is the best way to help bring this current infection rate down. It purportedly went on to detail that Nevada has so far fully vaccinated 45% of its population who are aged twelve and over but that this figure is far below the nationwide average of 55%.

Reportedly divulged Morgan…

“We are a state of sceptics when it comes to vaccines. We have a lot of anti-vaxxers, frankly, in the state of Nevada.”

Gubernatorial guidance:

In an attempt to increase the vaccination rate and Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak reportedly pronounced on Thursday that he will be seeking help from the bespoke response teams being dispatched by the administration of President Joe Biden. Nevertheless, the Democrat is purportedly known to be reluctant about the reimposition of mask mandates and other restrictions such as the installation of plexiglass barriers at gaming tables within the state’s casinos.