Nevada Governor Shutters Las Vegas, Reno Bars Over COVID-19 Surge

The governor of Nevada has said that all bars in the Las Vegas and Reno areas will once again close, with restrictions placed on other establishments and businesses, as the state tries to control a second wave of new COVID-19 cases.

Gov. Steve Sisolak said that bars in several countries deemed a "hotspot" for coronavirus will be returning to Phase 1 of their "Roadmap to Recovery," as of 11:59 p.m. on Friday, July 10.

This means any bar which does not serve food must close or only provide curbside pickup and delivery where allowed.

The return to previous guidelines also means that restaurants with bar areas must close them and not let customers gather there, and limit capacity to 50 percent. All food establishments are also not allowed to seat parties or more than six people indoors or out.

In a speech, Sisolak said the decision was made after Dr. Anthony Fauci, the country's top infectious disease expert, said that people congregating in bars is a significant risk and "one of the most dangerous things people could do right now."

Sisolak added that the Nevada State Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently inspected more than 1,500 businesses to see if they were following guidelines which allowed them to reopen as part of Phase 2 of their recovery plan, and found that only 79 percent were.

"That means one-fifth of businesses visited by OSHA inspectors are not in compliance with our measures, and this is unacceptable. Additionally, I am concerned because based on our inspections thus far, fewer than half the bars that OSHA inspectors have visited have been found in compliance," the governor said.

Sisolak said other states such Arizona, Texas and Florida which have also seen a significant rise in new COVID-19 cases have also taken a similar step to roll back on bars reopening.

"These are not decisions that I like to make, but I assure you, I am not making it lightly," he added.

Apart from the closure of bars, Nevada will remain in Phase 2 of reopening, which means that people will still be required to wear face masks when out in public.

"I want to be crystal clear: unless you are actively walking into a pool, swimming in a pool, or walking out of a pool, you should have a face covering on at all times. It's as simple as that," Sisolak said.

"Across the country, we have seen far too many instances where hospital capacity appeared fine one day and then were overwhelmed the next with increased COVID-19 patients.

"We do not want that to happen here. So we will do what we must to make sure that our hospitals are able to provide the best possible care to all patients."

There are more than 24,300 confirmed cases of COVID-29 in Nevada, with at least 553 deaths according to Johns Hopkins University. In total, 969,111 people have managed to recover from the virus in the U.S.

This, graphic provided by Statista, compares the rise of COVID-19 cases in different states as of July 6.