Positive test at Mayfair Supper Club likely first of many on Strip, experts say

Almost two weeks after Las Vegas casinos first began to reopen, at least one hotel-casino worker has tested positive for COVID-19.

MGM Resorts International said Wednesday night it is closing Mayfair Supper Club at Bellagio for the time being after a kitchen worker tested positive for the virus that afternoon. The venue hasn’t been open since Sunday, and it’s unclear when it will return.

It’s too soon to say how many hotel-casino workers have contracted the coronavirus.

“It takes close to three weeks until we see the (positive) cases show up in our system,” said Brian Labus, a member of Gov. Steve Sisolak’s medical advisory team and an epidemiologist at UNLV. “The incubation period (for COVID-19) is up to two weeks. Then, it takes a few days before people get tested.”

He and other health experts expect more hotel-casino workers to test positive because the state’s hospitality workforce is too large to expect every worker to dodge it.

A cause for concern?

The Southern Nevada Health District reported 342 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest one-day increase since the pandemic reached Nevada in early March.

Given the state’s recent uptick in COVID-19 cases and the size of Nevada’s hospitality workforce, it’s inevitable that some workers would contract the virus, according to Robert Jackler, a professor and researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Las Vegas and Clark County had more than 166,000 people employed in the leisure and hospitality industry in April, according to data from UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research.

“As the disease goes up in the community, there will be more workers and patrons in the casino and its facilities who are infected and potentially transmitting the disease,” Jackler said.

Even so, Jackler said people can’t assume that the Mayfair employee — or possibly other hotel-casino workers with COVID-19 — contracted the virus at work.

“The risk of spreading the disease exists in the workplace, of course, but also in the community at home, while shopping, dining out, socializing, protesting,” he said.

Taking action against virus

Some patrons may avoid certain venues with COVID-19 cases, but Labus said others will continue to visit nonetheless.

“We’ve been seeing that the last three months,” he said. “People at certain stores or other places test positive, and that doesn’t stop people from grocery shopping or going to Walmart. … By chance alone, we’re going to have people in the casino industry get infected. That doesn’t mean there’s a risk in casinos, necessarily.”

To keep casinos safe, Labus said casinos need to follow a mix of health and safety protocols. He pointed to new rules on mask usage, sanitation, and social distancing.

But Jackler believes casinos can do more.

He said smoking — which prompts face-touching and coughing — should be banned inside casinos amid the pandemic, and he thinks guests should be required to wear masks.

Casinos “should use every precaution,” he said. “It’s probably in the best interest for casinos because it’ll make them safer with fewer risks of transmission” between employees and patrons.

For gaming venues that do find themselves with employees that test positive, Jackler recommends quarantining the staff member and notifying any patrons who made contact with the employee.

The worst-case scenario if clusters do form within casinos? More closures.

Without enhanced protocols, “they’re very likely to end up with outbreaks,” Jackler said. “This could lead to casinos being shut down entirely again.”

Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.