Sisolak drops hint to state
Governor plans a reveal Thursday, talks casinos with Trump
CARSON CITY — Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday teased on Twitter that he would announce a “Roadmap to Recovery” plan for Nevada on Thursday, starting with the resumption of medical and dental procedures that were delayed by the coronavirus outbreak.
Thursday’s announcement will come on the day a series of his directives on social distancing, business closures and other restrictions related to COVID-19 are set to expire.
In Washington, President Donald Trump asked Sisolak during a conference call with the nation’s governors about reopening the state, but Sisolak didn’t give the president a definitive answer, according to CNN.
The governor has also resisted providing Nevadans with a firm date on which he will relax his declaration of emergency and associated orders.
“I am able to make announcements this week because so many of you have stayed home for Nevada and helped flatten the curve against #COVID19,” the governor said in a follow-up tweet. And he promised “many more announcements” ahead of his Thursday unveiling.
“I look forward to this next
phase in the battle against COVID-19 — one that will be federally supported, state managed, & locally executed,” Sisolak said.
The governor made the first of those announcements Tuesday, saying medical and dental procedures that had been postponed because of the novel coronavirus would soon resume, under special conditions designed to thwart the spread of the disease.
Patients should expect new procedures, such as pre-appointment screening questions, temperature checks on arrival at a medical or dental office, closed waiting rooms and requests to wash hands or use mouth rinse.
Talking with Trump
After the president, whose eponymous company owns a hotel in Las Vegas in partnership with Phil Ruffin, asked Sisolak about reopening, the governor replied, “We want to welcome everybody back to Las Vegas at the right time. We’re getting there.” Sisolak also assured Trump that he was working closely with “our mutual friend Sheldon Adelson,” according to CNN.
Trump responded that opening Las Vegas “will be a big thing.”
The governor’s office confirmed Tuesday that Trump had asked Sisolak about reopening Vegas casinos.
Las Vegas has been on Trump’s mind of late as photos of an empty Strip have served as a stark reminder of how thoroughly the coronavirus outbreak has shuttered once-thriving hot spots.
The question as to when to reopen has been a source of public dispute between the governor and Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, who lambasted the shutdown as “total insanity.” When the Review-journal asked Trump during a recent press briefing which view he supported, Trump leaned toward Sisolak.
“It’s a very severe step (Sisolak) took,” he said. “I’m OK with it. I’m OK with it. But you know, I mean, you could call that one either way. I know the mayor is very upset with it. Some owners are very upset with it. Some of the developers out there very upset. Others, they say, ‘Hey, we got to get rid of it.’ I can see both sides of that.”
There has been something of a
Republican-democratic split as bluestate governors, such as California’s Gavin Newsom, generally were quick to issue stay-at-home orders and Republicans, such as Florida’s Rick Desantis, have been more focused on keeping their states open.
Sisolak announced Monday that Nevada will join four other Western states that are coordinating as they relax COVID-19 restrictions and reopen businesses.
But there has also been bipartisan cooperation. Sisolak, a Democrat, has credited Adelson, a GOP megadonor, for flying in needed medical equipment from China when the state was scrambling to obtain surgical masks and personal protective equipment.
Hope on the horizon
While many Nevada officials condemned Goodman’s comments as over the top, some casinos have begun taking reservations, a sign that major employers are impatient to get back to business.
“I have heard the MGM is going to open up June 1 and Wynn and Boyd and Caesars Entertainment are all going to open up for Memorial Day weekend,” said Las Vegas attorney Joe Brown.
Brown is a onetime Republican national committeeman and leader of the group Restoration Nevada, which is working on an advisory plan for opening the Silver State.
“Our group has been very cautious about not coming across as partisan or political,” Brown said. “We’re not trying to tell anybody that we know about the medical part of it.”
Instead, he said, the goal of the group is to help small businesses and Nevada’s economy as a whole by offering recommendations on “the fast way we can get it open once the green flag is given to us.”
State Sen. Scott Hammond, R-las Vegas, told the Review-journal that he has been hearing from an increasing number of constituents who tell him they want to reopen the state.
“When we say reopen, we mean reopen with a plan,” with mitigating procedures and safeguards to keep employees and customers safe, he said.
In an opinion piece for Nevada Business, GOP former Attorney General Adam Laxalt warned, “The hardship this has caused already is staggering — and will become more so, particularly in Nevada, if our economy doesn’t open up soon.”
But when the Nevada GOP criticized Sisolak on Monday for not having a plan, state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-las Vegas, chided the governor’s critics.
“This is shameful. Stop it,” she said. “It’s not a time to be divided. Jump in and help make solutions. Nevadans deserve better.”
The Review-journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.
Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @Debrajsaunders on Twitter. Contact Capital Bureau reporter Bill Dentzer at bdentzer@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Dentzernews on Twitter.