Gov. Steve Sisolak started a mask mandate requirement in indoor public spaces Friday, July 30 to curtail and lessen the spread of COVID-19 in Nevada.
The decision comes after the delta variant of the coronavirus made headlines, hospitalizing the unvaccinated.
“Vaccines are like a wall,” Dr. Richard Zane, chief innovation officer at UCHealth and professor and chairman of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, said on UCHealth’s website. “They prevent the variants from coming in. If you’re not vaccinated, you’re not protected against anything.’’
The new mandate defines indoor public spaces as “any indoor area where other people who are not members of your own household are present,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. People exempt from this include “children 9 (years old) or younger; people with a medical condition, disability or other health reason that prevents them from wearing a face mask; the homeless; employees for whom wearing a face mask would create a work-related risk; people obtaining services involving the nose or face; people who are actively eating in restaurants; vocal performers; musicians playing a musical instrument; and athletes while playing or practicing.”
The Las Vegas Police Department will not enforce the new mandate. Violating the mandate could result in verbal warnings, citations, notices or other enforcement actions, depending on the circumstances, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Cities in the affected counties will deal with complaints made in their jurisdiction.
The counties currently impacted by the mandate include Las Vegas’ Clark County, along with Carson, Churchill, Douglas, Elko, Esmeralda, Lincoln, Lyon, Mineral, Nye, Washoe and White Pine counties. These counties will be able to forgo the mandate if Sisolak’s office reviews transmission numbers and decides that a county’s transmission rate has been “low or moderate” for two consecutive weeks, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
Las Vegas business owners are already worried about how the new mandate will affect their businesses, 8 News Now reported. Other business owners like Motum Athletics owner Michael Johnston worry the new mandate will drive Nevadans away from his gym to opt to return to working out at home or outside.
Johnston said, “If things shut down, I will shut down my business. My family won’t have the income we have that we are making through our business at this time.”
A customer commented, “It is not easy at the gym to wear your mask. It is extremely difficult especially for myself and young ones. It gets very sweaty, you are breathing in a wet towel.”
Another business owner, Debbi McCarty, of Sin City Knits, remarked, “It will be a little harder to keep my doors open, won’t take a paycheck this month.”
The Las Vegas Review Journal reported that as of July 30, 47.5% of residents 12 years old and older have been fully vaccinated.
At a Biden administration press conference on July 29, Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to rule out renewed lockdowns due to the spread of the delta variant of coronavirus, Fox News reported.
When asked whether the Biden administration would be open to renewed lockdowns, Jean-Pierre added: “This is a public health situation. This is not about politics at all, this is about saving lives. And this is what the president is all about.”
This renewed lockdown could include government mandates to close businesses and schools.
Dr. Joel Zinberg, who was a senior economist and general counsel at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, wrote in an opinion piece for the NY Post that, “ordering lockdowns or mask mandates for the entire population defies common sense,” because the variant, especially when affecting vaccinated people, poses a very low threat of hospitalization and death.
Though cases have been rising, hospitalizations have only increased moderately, according to Zinberg. The death rate, as of July 20, was lower than the three weeks preceding that date.
