‘We’re not test subjects.’ Las Vegas workers blast mayor’s pitch to reopen city

Las Vegas officials, unions and workers are flabbergasted by Mayor Carolyn Goodman’s pitch to reopen the city without social-distancing rules as a kind of coronavirus experiment, reports say.

“We’re not test subjects,” said Alexander Acosta, a banquet bartender with the Caesar Forum Conference Center, NBC News reported. “We’re people. We are employees.”

“If we open up too soon and we have problems either with our employees or tourists, that word’s going to go out and it’s going to kill Las Vegas,” said Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom, KSNV reported.

Goodman, an independent, suggested earlier this week in interviews on MSNBC and CNN that Las Vegas could reopen without social distancing rules to let consumers decide where they feel safe, Business Insider reported.

“We would love to be that placebo side so you have something to measure against,” Goodman said on CNN, according to Business Insider. She also said Las Vegas could be a “control group” to test ways to restart the U.S. economy.

Goodman, who lacks the power to order casinos on the Las Vegas Strip reopened, said in an interview with Anderson Cooper that business owners can decide how to best protect employees and customers, CNN reported.

“I am not a private owner,” Goodman said, according to the network. “That’s the competition in this country. The free enterprise and to be able to make sure that what you offer the public meets the needs of the public.”

“Right now, we’re in a crisis health-wise, and so for a restaurant to be open or a small boutique to be open, they better figure it out. That’s their job. That’s not the mayor’s job,” she said, CNN reported.

When Cooper asked about the dangers of such a move, Goodman accused him of being an “alarmist,” CNN reported.

Backlash rises to ‘outrageous’ comments

Her stance drew widespread scorn, with Las Vegas native Jimmy Kimmel calling Goodman “dangerously misguided,” Variety reported. Kimmel called on her to resign her post as an “embarrassment” to the city.

And Stephen Colbert called Goodman “sense-resistant,” The Week reported.

Reactions in Las Vegas and Nevada also were harsh, with Gov. Steve Sisolak pledging that when the state reopens “we’ll do it right,” KSNV reported.

“But I’m not going to allow my workers to be put in a position where they have to decide between their job and their life,” Sisolak said, according to the station. “That’s not a fair position to put them in.”

“I think that the mayor needs to listen to the scientists and the health care specialists and stop talking about my constituents as though they’re guinea pigs in some grand experiment that she’s trying to conduct,” said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, KSNV reported.

A culinary union representing Las Vegas restaurant workers, 11 of whom have died of coronavirus, blasted Goodman’s comments as “outrageous,” KNTV reported.

“We want people back to work, but it has to be safe and secure, and we don’t want workers to be part of an experiment,” said Geoconda Argüello-Kline, secretary-treasurer, in a statement, according to the station.

“Nobody wants people to go back more than I do, but everyone wants to go back to a safe and secure workplace and not be an experiment in a petri dish,” said D. Taylor, president of UNITE Here, which represents hotel and casino workers, Business Insider reported.

Workers on the Las Vegas Strip also were stunned by Goodman’s proposal, NBC News reported.

“Vegas is a unique destination, in that we rely on guests from all parts of the country, all parts of the world,” said Jay Blake, who works at a casino VIP lounge, according to the network. “I’m concerned if we open to everyone, (there will be) people coming from hot spots, places with outbreaks, where social distancing wasn’t as stringent as it was here.”

“There’s no proper protocols in place anywhere,” said Dee Kenny, who works in casino security, NBC News reported. “I’m not going to go back until I’m not at risk.”

More than 2.6 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 185,000 deaths as of April 23, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 843,000 confirmed cases with more than 46,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

This story was originally published April 23, 2020 at 12:28 PM with the headline "‘We’re not test subjects.’ Las Vegas workers blast mayor’s pitch to reopen city."