LAS VEGAS — Nevada gambling regulators are calling casino companies to a workshop next week with health and safety officials aimed at sharpening rules for reopening the state’s shuttered gambling establishments.
With no opening date currently set, the session scheduled for Tuesday by the Nevada Gaming Control Board could help show when Gov. Steve Sisolak will lift his mid-March order that stopped gambling in Nevada and closed casinos to prevent groups from gathering and spreading coronavirus.
A control board statement said regulators will determine how reopening will occur and the governor will determine when.
The Democratic governor allowed a May 9 partial return of customers to restaurants, salons and other nonessential businesses. But he kept casinos, nightclubs, spas and gyms closed, along with indoor movie theaters, community centers, tattoo parlors, strip clubs and brothels.
Some Las Vegas resorts are taking reservations and aiming for a June 1 reopening — while warning customers that plans remained subject to change.
State health officials on Wednesday reported 7,166 positive cases of COVID-19 and 373 deaths.
State prison officials confirmed that an inmate at High Desert State Prison in Indian Springs tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday when he was taken to a hospital for unrelated medical care.
The man did not show symptoms of the virus. Officials said that because he was still housed in an intake unit after arriving at the prison on April 22 from Las Vegas, other inmates in the general prison population of about 4,000 were not exposed.
Statewide, health officials say 18 staff members at various prison facilities around the state have tested positive for COVID-19.
For most people, the virus causes mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death. The vast majority of people recover.
