Las Vegas bars, businesses prepare for busy holiday weekend as neighboring states shut down

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    LAS VEGAS, NV (KVVU) — As neighboring states begin to shut down again, bars near the strip are preparing for more visitors this holiday weekend.

“I’ve already seen people from California and Arizona today,” said John Vizcarra.

Vizcarra is the Director of Operations at Stage Door Casino. He said they already get a lot of business from people from Arizona and California.

“We check populations of where people are coming from and three cities in California are on our top ten, Arizona has one city. I would imagine that we’re going to see an increase from those areas,” he said.

Vizcarra said as Coronavirus cases spike in the southwest, he understands the responsibility of running a bar.

“We feel that we have great measures in place to prevent COVID-19 from spreading,” he said.

Security checks temperatures at the door and hands out masks.

“Of course you get the odd person here and there that they’re just not going to comply with anything, but I would say 99 percent who come through the door are more than happy to wear a mask,” said Vizcarra.

Since the mask mandate started last week, investigators with The Department of Business and Industry made 259 compliance checks across the state. Of those businesses, 85 percent complied with the mask mandate.

“Our goal is I’m sure the same as everyone else’s, we want to see everyone get healthy,” said Vizcarra.

More people are getting sick in Nevada. The number of daily cases is nearly three times higher than one month ago. Hospitalizations are also up but the need for ICU beds and ventilators is not rising.

“I’m hopeful that people coming to town to celebrate but that they do it safely.”

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