Fear and loathing at the Cosmo

The Cosmo has even gained a nickname: “The Wuhan of the Strip.” Although the Cosmo’s 70 reportedly infected workers pales next to Wynncore‘s 300, inside sources (who all spoke to The Daily Beast anonymously out of fear of retaliation) said they were being allowed to return almost immediately to work if they were asymptomatic. Said the pit boss, “I’m terrified. I’m terrified of getting it and bringing it home and seeing my family.” Why? “So much anxiety about everything, and it’s so much worse on the weekends, when we’re packed well beyond the 50 percent capacity to which we’re supposed to be adhering.” Evidently Cosmo ownership doesn’t think a few sacrifices on the altar of Mammon is a bad thing. The State of Nevada bears some of the blame. As Coronavirus cases spiral upward, Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) hesitates—dare we say fatally?—to move against the all-powerful casinos. They got him elected, after all.

According to the Beast, the Cosmo hasn’t even installed plexiglas barriers (the industry standard) on all its table games. Patrons are not only being allowed to touch cards, Cosmo reportedly isn’t sanitizing the decks. Chips? “Maybe once a week.” All slot machines are kept on. Temperature checks aren’t being conducted, so we’re told, and only recently has the Cosmo cracked down on (some) unmasked players. Admittedly, people who don’t take responsibility for themselves, walk around inebriated and can’t be bothered to wear face masks is an especially made-in-Las Vegas problem, but the question is whether the Cosmo is doing its part to curb such pestilential behavior and the early answer seems to be ‘no.’ Considering the number of viral videos of virus-friendly activity at the Cosmo, we’re hard-pressed to give the place the benefit of the doubt. No other Strip resort has attracted so much opprobrium since reopening.

Poker pro Jeff Hwang, however, says “I wouldn’t describe Cosmo as being particularly unique as far as those types of safety measures.” Or lack thereof, presumably. “There is no attempt being made at crowd control enforcement at casinos. There is no defense against a mass influx of untested population of visitors from Covid hotspots concentrated on a four-mile Strip.” And don’t even get us started on all the smoking! To its credit, the Cosmo is belatedly taking action to prevent crowding around table games but is it too little, too late? “Even the [University Medical Center of Southern Nevada] nurses giving us tests have said Cosmo is the worst,” said one of the Beast‘s sources.

Per an internal memo, “all employees must wear a mask, work outside the pit as much as possible, and must not ‘congregate or be within six feet of another [employee] when your area is dead.’ In the pit, supervisors are not allowed to ‘stand side by side with another’ staffer, and ‘must not walk to/from break’ with a colleague.” But for customers—said to be “a little rough”—it’s evidently quite a different set of rules.

High rollers stand accused of getting a special amount of slack and the Cosmo’s narrow, constricted casino floor has been said to be holding as many as 1,000 players at a time. An worker says that, after seeing a dealer abused by a player, “I knew right then Cosmo was full of shit about protecting employees.” We could go on and on … but it’s too depressing. It’s like some kind of Hunter S. Thompson dystopian view of the Apocalypse. People are dying and no one cares. Party on! “We went from being a place of class and prestige to a place of wild, drunken, rowdy partygoers,” remarks an employee. “In their minds, COVID doesn’t exist once they arrive in Vegas.”

Cosmo workers look enviously at Wynncore (“amazing at keeping employees safe”) and Venelazzo, regularly cited as the gold standard of Coronavirus vigilance. Even Caesars Entertainment has come to the table with Culinary Union, which had been suing it for a lack of probity at some of its restaurants. In a lengthy statement, the Cosmo said it’s provided “free testing, temperature checks and paid time off for employees,” adding “Over the past several months, we have implemented an extensive set of health and safety policies and procedures, all of which meet or exceed the directives and guidance taken from local health and government authorities, including those called for within Senate Bill 4,” the Adolfo Fernandez Bill, which mandates a lengthy set of worker protections.

Cosmo management denied employees’ accusations, saying that “As we have continued to operate, we have added even more protections for the health and wellbeing of our team, including extended benefits, an onsite team of certified medical professionals, real-time communication channels, a 24/7 accessible COVID-19 response team, dedicated Resort Ambassadors, enforcing our health and safety guidelines throughout the resort, the conversion of convention meeting space into expansive employee break and dining areas, and more. We continue to solicit feedback from employees and adjust and strengthen our protocols and extensive safety and security measures in real-time.” There is some dispute, however, as to whether the amount of paid time off the Cosmo is providing is adequate to cover the 14-day quarantine period required by Coronavirus. Either way, the Cosmo is developing a serious image problem, albeit not with those reprobates who want to take Vegas riskiness to new levels. For them it’s Nirvana.

Speaking of restaurant issues at Caesars, Searsucker has closed … again. The Caesars Palace eatery cited “the unforeseen business circumstances caused by the spread of COVID 19, the Governor of Nevada’s declaration of emergency and resulting executive orders which have required Searsucker to operate at a reduced capacity, the recommendations and/or orders regarding public gatherings issued by the CDC and various other government agencies and officials, and the resulting unforeseen economic impacts that the foregoing circumstances have caused to our business.” In other words, it’s everybody’s fault but Searsucker’s. The real bottom line is that 52 people are out of jobs—at least until Hakkasan Group can reopen the restaurant (again), which it says it intends to do.

Jot: We see that Vital Vegas author Scott Roeben got the low-down on Virgin Hotel from President Richard Bosworth himself. Sahara owner Alex Meruelo may have it in for Roeben but movers and shakes like Bosworth and Derek Stevens are still happy to take his phone calls, glad to report.