MGM Resorts Employee Mask Update

Based on new emergency directives from the Clark County Commission, MGM Resorts will require all employees, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, to wear masks indoors while working at our Las Vegas properties. This policy went into effect at 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, July 21, and will remain in place until at least Tuesday, August 17.

The change in policy is in response to spiking numbers of COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths here in Las Vegas. In Clark County, over the last seven days, cases are up 49%, deaths are up 50% and new hospital admissions are up 23%. These alarming numbers are much higher than the U.S. national average and are the result of a low rate of vaccination within the community and the fast-spreading Delta variant.

Last week, I urged all MGM employees who are not yet vaccinated to do so for our collective health and safety. I also emphasized that getting vaccinated helps ensure that we won’t backslide into renewed restrictions, reduced tourism, and further damage to our economy and jobs. This updated mask policy is an early example of how more restrictive measures could be reimposed if we can’t keep case numbers sufficiently low. This isn’t alarmism or exaggeration – it’s a realistic possibility that I hope we can avoid. Thankfully, there is a solution. There are three safe and highly effective vaccines widely available and free-of-charge throughout the United States.

If you are worried about vaccine safety or side effects, please know that 3.6 BILLION vaccine doses have already been administered globally and 338 MILLION doses have been administered in the United States. As of this week, over 161 MILLION Americans have been fully vaccinated – nearly half of the U.S. population. This is a huge number of people who have already received the vaccine and are doing just fine.

The people who aren’t doing well are those who aren’t vaccinated. In fact, 95% of COVID hospitalizations in Nevada’s Southern District are among unvaccinated people. Even worse, nationally, 99.5% of the people who died from COVID over the past six months were unvaccinated.

Let me reiterate: These vaccines are safe and effective and have the ability to finally end this terrible pandemic – a pandemic that has taken lives, overwhelmed the doctors and nurses who care for us, put millions of people out of work and isolated us all from one another. The more people who get the vaccine, and the sooner they do so, the better off we’ll all be. Getting vaccinated means a future with fewer illnesses, fewer deaths and a lower likelihood of restrictions, closures and layoffs.

If you haven’t already done so, now is the time. Please – get vaccinated.

Stay safe and be well.