Nevada’s Governor Urges Nevadans to Get Vaccinated to Prevent More COVID-19 Mandates

More than a week after reinstating a mandatory mask mandate for everyone indoors regardless of vaccination status, Gov. Steve Sisolak again stopped short of reinstating capacity limits and social distancing measures, instead asking Nevadans to get vaccinated against COVID-19 during a press conference on Thursday. He says his goal is to avoid future shut downs. “In fact, everything we’re currently doing is aimed at preventing just those scenarios,” he says.

Sisolak noted that he does not plan to require casino workers to get vaccinated and will not mandate proof of vaccination for diners to eat indoors at a restaurant or bar or go to an event, measures New York City already implemented on August 3, but did encourage businesses to decide whether they wanted to require proof of vaccinations. So far, no restaurants in the Las Vegas area require proof to dine indoors. Some restaurants around the country already started requiring proof of vaccination from those who wish to dine indoors.

Sisolak hopes that following the Centers for Disease Control’s guidance that everyone wear a mask indoors will help curtail the spread of COVID-19 as more Nevadans get vaccinated. Another 3.5 percent of eligible unvaccinated adults received their first dose since July 25 until last Sunday. That news comes as Nevada records another 1,135 new cases of COVID-19 and 26 deaths.

The state dropped a mask mandate in May when the highly transmissible delta variant made up less that 1 percent of COVID-19 cases in Nevada; now around 90 percent of new cases are due to the delta variant. Sisolak says that “almost every COVID-19 data … since January … has been in the case of an individual who is not fully vaccinated.”

The Nevada Hospital Association reports that approximately 95 percent of those who are hospitalized are unvaccinated patients.

Restaurant and bar owners who are requiring proof of vaccination can drop an email to the Eater Vegas tipline.

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