Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) is pushing back against Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s reopening plans following her interview on CNN.
Hours after Goodman appeared on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360,” Sisolak appeared on the show to weigh in on the discussion. Despite Goodman’s eagerness to reopen, Sisolak suggested otherwise, noting the state’s most recent death toll spike on Wednesday.
“We are clearly not ready to open,” Sisolak said. “We have, sadly, since you did that interview, we now have 187 deaths in the state of Nevada, but over 4,100 positive cases. I will not allow the citizens of Nevada, our Nevadans to be used as a control group, placebo, whatever she wants to call that. I will not allow that.”
He added, “I can tell you our largest trade union on the strip, culinary union 226 lost 11 members. They lost 11 members to COVID-19 already. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure they don’t lose 11 more.”
See Sisolak’s remarks below:
"We are clearly not ready to open."
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 23, 2020
Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak responds to Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman's call for the city's businesses to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic. "I will not allow the citizens of Nevada, our Nevadans to be used as a control group." pic.twitter.com/F100tYgEF8
Sisolak’s remarks came shortly after Goodman’s intense exchange with Cooper. Despite the continued rise in coronavirus, the Las Vegas mayor adamantly insists it is time to reopen.
Claiming that the state had an estimated 150 coronavirus-related deaths out of a population of 2.3 million people in Southern Nevada, Goodman shared her desire to reopen the city and its main tourist attractions — namely hotels, casinos, and stadiums.
She also argued that a control group would be needed to develop more statistics on the virus.
“How do you know until we have a control group? We offered to be a control group. Anybody who knows anything about statistic knows that, for instance, you have a vaccine, you give a real vaccine.”
Cooper interrupted and asked for clarity saying, “You’re offering for the citizens of Las Vegas to be a control group to see if your theory on social distancing works or doesn’t work.”
Goodman called Cooper’s remark “wrong” but admitted that she did offer but was turned down.
See the exchange below:
“Wow, that’s really ignorant.”
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 23, 2020
Anderson Cooper clashes with Las Vegas Mayor Goodman after she justified her wish to quickly reopen casinos, saying, “This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas,” after he showed her a graphic of how coronavirus could spread in a restaurant in China. pic.twitter.com/2iuzXJ1Mdf
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman calls for businesses to reopen, while saying she won't provide social distancing guidelines on how to do so safely.
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 23, 2020
"They better figure it out. That's their job. That's not the mayor's job." https://t.co/kktKtDonFZ pic.twitter.com/R93lgQxDis
During the interview, Goodman also delcared, “This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas,” in defending her desire to reopen parts of the state’s economy. Cooper quickly responded, “Wow, that’s really ignorant.”
As of Thursday morning, the state of Nevada has more than 4,000 positive coronavirus cases and a death toll of 187.