Guests at Las Vegas Strip sound off on new mask policies in resorts: ‘Not taking those chances’
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Several Las Vegas Strip properties have adopted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest guidance on masks, which allows for fully vaccinated people to remove their face coverings in certain indoor settings. While some guests welcome the change, others say they are keeping their masks on — for now.
“I always wear my mask inside,” said local resident Lori Hartsock-Kane. “You don’t know who is going to be vaccinated, so you just continue to do what is right for you.”
Visitors on the famed stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard voiced their opinions, as properties from MGM Resorts and Caesars, to The Cosmopolitan, Wynn and Venetian, among others, jumped on board with the updated guidance.
“It’s like 50/50,” said another visitor to the Strip. “We mask up inside in crowded areas, but outside, we feel all right about it because we are vaccinated.”
As one other woman observed, “You can’t really tell who has been vaccinated or not. We were walking around without masks, and we’re not vaccinated.”
Las Vegas visitor Carlos Hamlin, however, said he’s “not taking those chances with anybody else, especially my grandma and my people. I don’t want them to catch it just because I’m on a vacation.”
While many of these resorts and casinos are adopting the honor code — not asking for proof of vaccination for guests — employees at MGM and the Venetian Resort will continue to mask up, even if they have received their vaccine.
The stores inside of the resorts, meanwhile, can still implement their own mask regulations.
“So, yesterday, I had a gentleman at my work who was telling everybody that they can take off their mask, which is an inconvenience for us because our store still has the mandate,” shared Selena Espinoza, an employee at an outlet in one of the resorts.
Reporters at NewsNation affiliate KLAS visited several properties on the Strip, estimating that about half of the crowd was wearing masks, while the others were not. Most employees were still wearing face coverings.