The wildfires chased me out of Oregon--air quality 'extremely hazardous.' I packed a bag and drove east until the smoke cleared--at which point I was in Salt Lake City! So I decided what the hell, I'll go to Vegas for a few days, use some comps at South Point. I was kind of curious to see how they're handling masks and social distancing. My thought was, if I play, it'll be in the wee hours when it's nearly deserted.
I rolled into town around noon, passing a big billboard with a Trumper lie on it (I won't repeat it, other than to note that it was stupid and ugly). Trump had dropped by and soiled Henderson with an indoor hate rally the day before, so I wondered if there was a connection. Anyway, the air was relatively clear and you could hardly smell the Trump.
I checked in to my room at noon. I dropped my bags and went out on the casino floor to look around. I would say that fully 80% of the patrons walking around were indeed wearing masks--though by no means all. However, the seated customers playing slots were only wearing masks half the time--if that. South Point has always had a large proportion of smokers--for whatever reason. The smokers were all puffing away and doing the "ear dangle" or the "chin bra." Furthermore, anyone who had a drink yanked down their mask for the duration--not "pull down, take a sip, pull it back up." There was one old guy eating Cheetos very slowly--maybe one every minute--and he had his mask pulled down the entire time. Also, anyone talking on the phone pulled the mask off for the duration of the call.
I, despite my earlier misgivings, decided to play a little VP. However, people kept sitting down near me and lighting up (a general problem I've always had at South Point). I kept moving, and moving, and moving--never got ten minutes of play at the same machine. I made the huge mistake of asking a couple of the mask-danglers if they could wear their masks properly. They reacted like I had asked if I could rape their daughters. Tired of avoiding the smokers and no-maskers and tired of being screamed at, I called it a night.
They had security guys roving the floor and handing out masks. They did NOT, however, say anything to any of the no-maskers flouting the rules when they were playing. Afraid, apparently, of antagonizing their loyal customers, they effectively are telling anybody with a cigarette, a drink, a phone, or a bag of Cheetos that they don't have to wear a mask. There's an insidious aspect to all this aside from the infectious air--the no-maskers spew onto the surfaces you'll be touching--machine buttons, chairs, etc.
Bottom line: South Point is a highly infectious and dangerous environment and patrons are NOT being responsible. It's apparent they're only wearing masks to avoid getting hassled by security, but they've figured out that maskless machine players will be left alone. It's also obvious that they consider masks to be terrible, terrible infringements on their FREEDUMB and don't feel the need to be considerate.
I urge everyone to stay the hell away from South Point. It MIGHT be OK at three in the morning--and steak and eggs is $5 at the Coronado Cafe then. But other times of day--people are going to get sick, and some will die. South Point, and other casinos, should ban smoking--at LEAST for the duration of the pandemic. But noooooo.
EDIT: No one, but NO ONE, was observing social distancing. They evidently thought that wearing a mask somehow removes the necessity to stay six feet apart. If everyone in this country is as irresponible as South Point's patrons--well, we're boned.
