Question of the Day - 13 March 2020

Has the rate of reservations to LV slowed down for the coming months? Will production shows close?

What are the casinos doing to prevent the spread of the virus?

What effect is it having on Vegas visitor counts and major conventions and events?

Will the WSOP be cancelled?

How has the virus scare affected the casinos?

Are virus fears or preparations having any impact at the casinos? (For example, I don’t like the thought of handling dice after a dozen or so other players have handled the same dice.)

Is Las Vegas looking to implement some health measures to stop the spread?

Are the strip clubs doing anything to prevent the spread between strippers and patrons?

What is T-Mobile and the Vegas Golden Knights doing to prevent the spread of the disease at soldout home hockey games?

What are casinos doing differently to prevent coronavirus, such as disinfecting differently, cooks and food servers wearing masks etc.

Has the c’virus impacted negatively on Las Vegas casinos? And if so, how much?

Any predictions, rumblings, predicted money loss on coronavirus affecting the opening of Allegiant Stadium?

Due to the coronavirus are there any precautions in place? Buffet closings?

Do you think any major headliner show will cancel due to the Coronavirus?  We have tickets to see Kelly Clarkson next month and are wondering if her show, as well as others, will go on as scheduled.

Are casinos handing out alcohol wipes for slot players due to the coronavirus? Wouldn’t want to be touching that spin button just yet.

Since the coronavirus has a high danger in the respiratory category, would it not be a major PR and health move for casinos to issue a no-smoking edict? 

And finally: So the obvious question, I'm scheduled to come from Ohio at the end of the month. Should I cancel or come? If I come, should I be worried about touching chips, gaming tables, video poker machines? Hotel rooms? I can’t figure out how real this "pandemic" is and how concerned I should be.

Phew.

The above are just a representative sample of the dozens of questions we've received over the past couple of weeks from QoD readers far and wide. Never in the history of Question of the Day have we fielded so many queries on a single subject. We admit we've been a little hesitant to answer them, given how fast this story is developing around the world. But we finally decided that we had to make a statement, if not respond directly to every question. 

Basically, much of the uncertainty surrounding this virus boils down to one question: How worried should I be?

The answer, of course, is hardly straightforward. In fact, it's quite complicated, since the coronavirus is having such a profound impact on so many different areas: medical, economic, political, and perhaps most of all, social. All that is way beyond the scope of this answer.

For our purposes here, all we can say definitively is that the response from the Las Vegas casino and convention industries has been mixed, almost to an extreme. The only thing that all the press releases, official statements, and off-the-record comments have in common is the phrase, "We're monitoring the situation closely."

On the one side is MGM Resorts, which has closed the buffets at all its Strip casinos as of this Sunday. Though it's a "temporary" measure, no prediction is forthcoming as to when the buffets might be reinstated and the situation is being reevaluated "weekly." We've also heard that Mandalay Bay is also shutting down Fleur, Aureole, and Mizuya on Sunday, while Libertine Social is cutting back its hours to Thursday through Sunday.

In addition, numerous events large and small have been postponed: Cirque du Soleil's annual fundraiser, One Night for One Drop; Raiding the Rock Vault at the Rio (which has gone to a three-show-a-week schedule due to "the sudden drop of Las Vegas visitors"); a growing number of trade shows, business events, and sports meets have been postponed or cancelled outright, including the major National Association of Broadcasters next month; and one headliner (the Zac Brown Band) so far has cancelled its show at T-Mobile.

On the other side are the huge Con/Expo-Con/Agg convention, with 130,000 attendees, has gone on without incident this week; it ends tomorrow. Likewise, most conventions scheduled for the next month or two, including the big ASD Market Week show in two weeks and the World Series of Poker in a little more than two months, are going on as planned, so far; restaurants are serving, shows are performing, and life continues mostly as usual -- with only five cases of the virus confirmed in Las Vegas and one in Reno. As of last Tuesday, 168 Nevadans were negative for the coronavirus, 164 were being monitored for possible infection, and 341 completed monitoring without developing symptoms or “were determined to have no risk.” 

And yes, many casinos, following the lead of the Wynn, have installed hand-sanitizer stations. The strip club Little Darlings is sponsoring a promotion, giving away 50,000 free bottles of hand sanitizer while supplies last this month. 

Beyond that, no one knows what the future of the coronavirus has in store. Last month, when this virus started making the news, no one could have predicted that it would shut down the Macau casinos for two weeks, lock down an entire country (Italy), be responsible for canceling all NBA and NHL games, MLB spring training, etc., and March Madness contested in empty arenas. A month from now, we'll probably look back and shake our heads over where we were today after what has happened since.

Only time can put the punctuation on the answer to all the questions. (And it's just a coincidence that this answer is running on Friday the 13th.) But we've started a running blog on the topic, where we're posting a list of all the changes this virus has wrought in Las Vegas; we'll also, as we can, answer questions posted in the comment boxes and keep track of all the developments chronologically. It's up now and you might want to bookmark it and check back when your concerns surface. 

In addition, we'll be conducting a poll next week on whether or not you've changed your travel plans in general, and to Las Vegas in particular, because of the continuing uncertainty surrounding the spread of this virus. Here's the preview of the poll choices, in case you want to weigh in on how they're presented (and thanks to Jim for helping to get this ball rolling):

I've postponed a pleasure trip (not to Las Vegas) until the coronavirus situation stabilizes.

I've postponed a business trip (not to Las Vegas) until the coronavirus situation stabilizes.

I've postponed a pleasure trip (to Las Vegas) until the coronavirus situation stabilizes.

I've postponed a business trip (to Las Vegas) until the coronavirus situation stabilizes.

I wouldn't have postponed a business trip (to Las Vegas or not), but the event was postponed or canceled.

I haven't postponed a trip, whether for business or pleasure, due to the virus.

I'm taking advantage of low airfares, room rates, and/or car-rental prices to travel at this time.