The Associated Press
Friday, July 16, 2021
LAS VEGAS — Masks are back in Las Vegas, where regional health officials pointed Friday to a rising number of coronavirus cases and advised everyone — vaccinated or not — to wear facial coverings in crowded indoor places.
The recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District isn't a requirement. But it could affect casinos, concerts and clubs during a busy summer weekend for out-of-town visitors.
Seven weeks ago, Nevada fully lifted coronavirus restrictions and returned pandemic control measures to counties.
This week, the top public health doctor in Los Angeles called for Californians to reconsider traveling to Nevada until COVID-19 case numbers in the Silver State decrease.
Nevada health officials on Thursday reported the biggest one-day coronavirus case jump in the state since February.
They said test positivity, a key marker of the percentage of people found to be infected among those tested for the virus, had tripled from 3.4% five weeks ago to 10.9% on Thursday.
The positivity figure reported by the state Department of Health and Human Services was 12.3% in the Las Vegas area.
The state tallied 938 new cases of COVID-19 statewide on Thursday and 15 new deaths, bringing to 5,752 the number of lives lost in Nevada attributed to COVID-19 since March 2020.
