Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images
Nevada and its casinos stopped requiring people to wear masks in public on Thursday, joining the other states in the country that lifted the mandate to use masks imposed to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak announced that the state no longer requires face coverings in most places, “with immediate effect”.
Let me be clear – the State will no longer require masks in public places, but employers and organizations, including school districts, may set their own policies, and I encourage them to work with their employees and communities to ensure that policies are in place.
— Governor Sisolak (@GovSisolak ) March 10, 2022
But to prevent students from removing their masks in class, the rules for schools remained in effect until the end of the day. “Face masks are not required for students, teachers, and employees beginning tomorrow morning,” the governor said.
The Nevada Gaming Control Board quickly followed up with an order lifting the face covering rule for casinos “unless a local jurisdiction still imposes such a requirement.”
The Governor reported that the places in Nevada where they may still be required masks include hospitals, clinics and long-term care facilities, in airports and on airplanes and on public and school buses. He also clarified that masks are no longer mandatory in prisons and correctional facilities.
Sisolak, who is seeking re-election in November, has been under increasing pressure to relax Covid prevention regulations. The governor also said that employers and school districts can still set their own policies.
The governor said there is a sharp decline in cases of coronavirus in Nevada from a peak in mid-January. However, the spread of Covid in Nevada remains above federal thresholds for positivity and new cases per population of 100, from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC continues to recommend wearing masks indoors in places of “substantial or high transmission” of Covid, which until now Wednesday was all of the US except 10 rural counties.
Sisolak said that the CDC guidelines would no longer be binding in Nevada under the new executive order suspending the use of masks that he signed on Thursday.
Sisolak acted shortly after that officials in New York, Illinois, and California announced plans to end indoor mask mandates in those states and keep the rule in place for schoolchildren.
As the number of new cases of COVID-19 continues to decline in the US, a growing number of states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Rhode Island have reduced or announced plans to end certain mask mandates, including some to schools, and other COVID-restrictions19 intended to reduce the transmission of the virus.
Te may interest:
– City of Long Beach will maintain the use of masks to despite the lifting of the order in California
– Truckers in the US threaten to protest in Super Bowl for the mandate of masks in schools
– County of Los Angeles will lift the mandate of e masks indoors possibly in April, estimates health director