by At the end of 2021, Las Vegas seemed to be well on its way to recovering from the covid pandemic. International travelers and elderly customers had not yet returned in large numbers, but tourists had begun to fill Strip hotels, and January’s 2022 Consumers Electronics Show (CES) looked like it would mark a huge return to big conventions.
No one expected CES to reach the numbers of 2020, with all the major players planning to appear at the show in person, resulting in busy hotels and casinos for Caesars Entertainment (CZR) MGM Resorts International (MGM) and almost all operators both on the Strip and downtown.
It wasn’t the craziness that a tech deal usually brings, but it was a significant step back to normalcy.
Then the Omicron variant started spreading and CES fell apart like a house of cards in slow motion. Big companies started pulling out of on-site presence or sending people to the show.
The organizers did not cancel the event, but what actually happened was a hollow shell of a normal year. Many of the booths were just screens and QR codes with no real people. Hotels and casinos were basically empty as only 25% of the normal crowd attended.
What should have been a much-needed win for Caesars, MGM and other casino operators turned into a disappointment. The whole incident showed how difficult recovery was, which taught the city some lessons and warned it about how easily the current recovery can be lost.
Now, with several huge Las Vegas events on the horizon, a new health crisis has emerged.
A new disease is spreading in Las Vegas
The biggest problem facing Las Vegas – or any tourist destination – is perception. People don’t want to go on vacation (or business trip) where they are likely to get sick. They are also very wary of being left out because they will catch something that will force them into a hospital or quarantine.
Now Las Vegas has seen a significant increase in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). A virus that infects the lungs and respiratory tract. So far, the problem has largely affected children, but the growing number is straining hospital capacity, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The pediatric units of several area hospitals have reached the patient limit.
“We don’t have any more beds,” emergency department pediatrician Dr. Lyndsey van der Laan told the paper. “The waiting times for the emergency room are getting longer. We’re seeing more and more patients.”
Children’s units force hospitals to use other areas to treat infected children. This limits their ability to handle adult cases if RSV spreads through the population. Add in the threat of rising coronavirus numbers and an expected severe flu season, and you have a potential perfect storm of problems.
Tripledem can be played in Las Vegas
CES broke up because companies were concerned about exposing workers to the Omicron variant, even though this covid variant was not a serious health threat to vaccinated, otherwise healthy adults. The same can happen with RSV and the flu—neither of which are usually life-threatening to healthy adults—and that’s a big concern because of the Las Vegas Strip’s busy winter tourist season.
“This is a concern about bad timing,” Brian Labus, an assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at UNLV’s Department of Public Health, told the Review-Journal. “Each of these things can put a lot of stress on the emergency room. All three happening at the same time would put a huge strain on our medical system.”
A real health crisis could be devastating at January’s CES, but even a perceived crisis can be a big problem. If hospitals are full and viruses spread, tourists may choose to leave Las Vegas and businesses may withdraw from trade shows.
But Omicron showed that this recovery is very weak, and an increase in disease – even if not serious – can put a big dent in Sin City’s recovery.
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