Question of the Day - 10 March 2021

5 to 10 years.
Covid-19 is based on the common cold virus and will mutate every year and a booster shot will be required every fall along with a flu shot.  Deaths will fall off each year but continued deaths will keep masks and social distancing a common thing for a long time.  But barriers, sanitizing, and six foot markers will be around until we hit a zero deaths from covid-19 for at least three months.

The casinos have tightened up like puckered sphincters. There is no way Vegas will ever be what it was, now that they've discovered that drop-kicking the low-rollers and catering to only the fat cats and addicts is a sound business approach (until it isn't). Post-pandemic, Vegas will be more like Macau than Vegas. Don't bother to visit unless you're prepared to drop five figures.

And BTW--if there are resurgences/variants of the virus, Vegas will be the epicenter. Particularly since there is NO WAY that the casinos would tolerate a re-imposition of restrictions, even if people are dying in droves again. 

You nay want to consider what benchmark you are using for recovery.  One could argue that the Las Vegas economy had not yet fully recovered from the economic downturn of 2007-2008 and that the numbers of one year ago are not the best benchmark.

It seems like your description is focusing on visitation numbers and the appearance of what Vegas was like to the casual visitor. 

Kevin makes a point. We'll probably NEVER get back to where we were 14 months ago. Of course, to people like Kevin, Vegas' ship sailed many years ago, and we'll never get back.

But to the casual visitor, whether its for a convention, or just to visit Vegas in the Sin City frame of mind, someone who may want to see a show, or visit a buffet, or throw a few bucks in a machine or table, the kind of person who doesn't know (or doesn't care) about the things that give us shivers, terms like "6/5", "Triple Zero", "Drink Vouchers" and "CNF" etc.

When will THAT type of person think things are 'normal' and return in the numbers we used to get?

The proposed time span options need tweaking. The first three are good, but then it should continue as months: 13 to 24 months, 25 to 36 months, more than 36 months. (Personally, I think you should add 37 to 60 months, then more than 60 months.)

After all, if I think it's gonna be about 2 years, which of your options should I select? 

The NCAA tourney, cheap rates and mid westerners ready to escape to the ultimate playground will fill Las Vegas next weekend.

This virus has made people very much concerned about one thing- their health!!!  People that used to visit Las Vegas occasionally wil and have been thinking twice about returning. I believe that business will return to Las Vegas in 1 to 2 years but to say that it will be at the capacity at it used to be I’m not so sure.it’s a GAMBLE for some and may someday be the gamble they’ve not willing to take 

As far as the "sentiments of Las Vegas aficionados" goes, we all know, clearly and unequivocally... NEVER...    

I hate to disagree with the masses - but I believe international travel ie Mexico/Dominican etc will continue to be scary as those countries will not have been vax-ed up like the US. This will leave a pent up demand for domestic travel. Disney and theme parks for the kids and Vegas to blow off steam for the adults.
My conjecture is that it will come back with a Roar and exceed expectations, this will however be somewhat of a short lived boom and will level out as other destinations become more palatable.

Sadly Vegas is not the "cheap" weekend that it once was and I think this will resonate. If you could get a 99c breakfast and a 1.49 shrimp coctail while staying in a $35/night room it was a deal and the best kept secret is that I just happened to gamble more away than I cared to admit but I could brag about everything else. 

If I can take a 7 night luxury Cruise for under $1k and it has a casino, or an all inclusive beach which also has a casino... vegas becomes a hard sell 

I think this summer, but some changes will get worse. More kiosks, more mobile apps, less customer service.  

I am taking a different spin. The roaring 20's happened after the 1918 Flu Epidemic. I think we are going to have a roaring next nine years. A new Roaring 20's. Bring it on. Might take nine months to start. Let it happen. Please. 

But of course in Las Vegas, "normal" is an evolving concept. Those who say things will never return to "pre-COVID-normal" are probably right.
Personally, I'd prefer Las Vegas "1970's-and-80's-normal"; but that's gone forever. As Dave Miller puts it, that ship has sailed.
OTOH, I wouldn't go quite as far as Kevin yet: Las Vegas still has some attractions, even for me. But they are fewer, harder to find, and less attractive than they used to be.
Las Vegas was deteriorating long before COVID, and will continue to deteriorate after it. Sooner or later it will hit rock bottom (for me), and then I will agree with Kevin. Rock bottom just came a little sooner for him.

7-12 months, but maybe NEVER the same as it was. That being said, I have visited LV (from NJ) twice so far and have another trip planned. Like the emphasis on cleaning, hand sanitizers etc. and hope that part never changes. Probably will still wear a mask in the casinos for a while though. 

With a number of very successful alternative treatments, and the vax, I say 4 t 6 months to get back to at least 80%.
When the mask mandates come off, the rush is on, if there isn't a complete economic meltdown over this ridiculous deficit spending.
Right now, that concerns me more than the WuHuFlu.

With the return of the conventions in 2022, I believe that Vegas will be back to the new normal. While I certainly miss the good old days of the late eighties and nineties, I recognize that "normal" is gone never to return. I also realize that the normal of the twenty-tens is also gone. The new normal of the twenty-twenties is not anything that I want or need. With the end of bargain food, bargain entertainment and cratering of slot club benefits, Las Vegas is no longer worth the hour and a half drive. A free room just isn't any incentive to visit!

As a "casual visitor" - (one who visits approx. once a year)I would expect the Vegas I knew and expect will return within 7 to 12 months. Once the conventions are back and the hotels/restaurants remove all (or most) of their restrictions tourists will flock back as before. You can see by the data that people are starting to increase as of today so give it another 7 - 12 months and Vegas should be fine.

Things will return when and if the medical complex runs out of money making mechanisms off it. I said 7-12 months. Eat. You stated what has to happen   You left out buffets with crab legs. The vaccine push should end about one year. At 200 per shot pd for by the American taxpayer should end then. Not everyone will be F--l enought to get the vaccine. Hospitals got huge ants of money from last stimulus. Memphis hospitals got 856 mil per local news. They get 29 to 150 K for each corona dx. They have run this horse almost to the ground. You have read about new normal. What is new normal for Vegas ? If you don't return to old Vegas it is doomed. Warned you of this one year ago. 

Just came out in medical journal that have tested oral med for corona  works just like Tamiflu. You take first 2-3 days and prevents didease. It will prob cost a fortune but!! It prob cost Big Pharma pennies to make  it is all about money. If it is successful it could decrease vaccine campaign. It may or not be successful. The corona Pandemic ( see 1918 flu) and you will know what a pandemic is. This is a simple viral outbreak with death rate about same as flu. ( see CDC releases) it is in the fine print rectangle ). This is about people control. Have you read agenda 2025. Won't be on fake news   It is risky printing this stuff. ( who said truth can be dangerous in these times)   If you want Vegas back you should know how to vote 2022. Why no flu?  Makes one wonder has it starts and spreads ??   Do you want 5-10 years. I would say 50-50 chance 

Never, I hope, God bless him.

I looked up Dr. Jerry online in the hopes that I could get an appointment, and found out he received his medical degree from the University of First Grade Grammar, with high honors. 

I had seen that news also, on USA Today.
 Merck and its biotech partner Ridgeback announced their drug, molnupiravir, hit one of its secondary objectives from a new trial, namely to reduce time to negativity of infectious SARS-CoV-2 virus isolation from swabs in patients with symptomatic COVID-19.  
We were told the restrictions were necessary to bend the curve, but they keep moving the end point of that curve! 

We got a lot of poll answers, but not much in the way of suggestions. I think the gist of the comments is to expand the answers to include "never". But that actually IS normal for Vegas. It has re-invented itself many times. Quite often, even without a pandemic, the casino industry asks itself 2 questions. #1, how can we get more people to come here? and #2 How can we get more money from them without losing them?. I'm betting that casinos execs are planning their next strategy to boost the number of visitors and latching on to the money they bring with them. Back to normal? Vegas has never been normal and they have never been afraid to keep trying something new until it works to their advantage.

welcome back David Miller. good to see you back.  

I believe masks are here to stay, whether or not the pandemic is still here or not.  Some people have said they enjoy the anonymity of wearing a mask, I'm one of them.  I do enjoy wearing a bandana into banks.

I live on the East Coast and we have been going to Las Vegas twice a year for maybe 20 years always making sure to return in less than 6 months to preserve points and comps.   I'm worried about losing all we have earned.  For Caesars and Mlife we use their credit cards or can go to AC, but for Stations, Boyd, Strat, etc, are they extending time limits?  Not sure when we can take a trip.