What They Are Saying: It’s Time For A Plan

Yesterday, the Nevada GOP launched a push to force Governor Sisolak to finally release a plan for how and when he will reopen Nevada’s economy by taking over the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s homepage and running its first of three full-page ads in the Reno Gazette Journal.

And the Party wasn’t alone in thinking it’s time for Sisolak to do so. Just check out what others said over the weekend.

Steve Sebelius in the Las Vegas Review-Journal

“Every day the country is shut down has consequences. It’s time for us to start planning for what we do after the immediate danger has passed and figure out how we will reopen in a world with the coronavirus in as smart and as safe a way as possible.

“The very act of planning provides us some badly needed hope. At my house, we’ve begun writing on a chalkboard all of the things we plan to do when Nevada and the nation reopens. Each new item is a reminder that this will end, that we are not serving life without parole.” 

Read more here.

Orrin J.H. Johnson in the Nevada Independent

“Without a sense that our state leadership has a plan, which easily translates into ‘they don’t know what they’re doing,’ people will simply take matters into their own hands. Commerce will recommence, legally or not. People will begin to socialize in ever larger groups, legally or not. Already I’m seeing more traffic on the roads, more people in stores which remain open, and a lot less patience with the shutdown. And as I’ve said before, if COVID-19 is as deadly as originally thought, this failure to plan and communicate the exit strategy could prove deadly indeed.”

Read more here.

Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox in the Nevada Independent

“So I believe it is critical to monitor our hospitalizations as we increase testing. We passed our ‘peak’ hospitalizations based on most national models and our hospitals were not overrun. Our COVID-19 related deaths per million are below the national average. We have also acquired enough personal protective equipment (PPE) through a public-private partnership to sufficiently supply our medical community that we all rely on for months.

“We now face a new, rapidly decelerating curve we must ‘flatten’. Our economy is in a freefall. Nevada will likely be one of the hardest hit states in the nation and suffer very high unemployment. It is imperative to flatten this curve so we can re-emerge in a safe, sustainable way.”

Read more here.

Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt in Nevada Business Magazine

“Those who are setting public policy in the face of this crisis must reject the false, binary choice that many opinion-shapers are trying to present. This is not a matter of weighing lives against our economy. We’re weighing lives against lives. Acting otherwise, and taking an unbalanced, all-or-nothing approach may be the politically expedient road, but it’s not what this situation demands. A purely maximalist approach is not statesmanship — and it will not only cost Nevada financially, it will cost us more lives.”

Read more here.

Vital Vegas

“Now, Wynn Resorts is taking the lead on how it will reopen. The company’s plan, shared in a 23-page document, is likely to become a de facto template for other Las Vegas casinos and businesses, especially because no plan has been forthcoming from Nevada leadership. Awkward.”

Read more here.

State Senator James Settelmeyer speaking to KSNV-3 (NBC Las Vegas)

“’I think that people right now are desperate. they’re hurting, and as Nevadans are hurting, we need to be able to tell them what the plan is. A lot of people can deal with a lot of stuff, as long as they know what the plan is.’

“Senator Settelmeyer also believes certain areas of the state, and certain segments of the economy could open immediately. ‘My overall opinion is, we have the ability, in talking to medical experts that I’ve talked to, again, infectious disease experts for several counties, have indicated that if you following proper safe protocols, there’s no reason we can’t do soft openings for certain businesses right away.’ He also says Nevadans are capable of taking some personal responsibility toward that end. ‘I know this is a crazy concept, but individual responsibility. allow people to be individuals. I mean, people have been tremendous. They’ve been fantastic in obeying the rules So in that respect, why not trust them a little more to take care of themselves, because it is an issue of personal health.’”

Read more here.

Nevadans that have sacrificed their livelihoods to protect our state’s health and safety deserve to know when and how the state is going to reopen for business. A lack of a plan is a failure on Governor Sisolak’s part.

People’s lives are at stake. It’s time for the governor to step up and lead.