Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak records his State of The State address inside the Assembly Chamber at the Nevada Legislature on Jan. 16, 2021.
Photo: David Calvert / The Nevada Independent
Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday approved every business in every county in the state to be open at 100 percent capacity by June 1.
He said that includes eliminating some restrictions including social distancing.
But he said the mask mandate will remain in place for the foreseeable future.
Sisolak said he also will continue his plan to shift control over the restrictions from the state to the counties. He said that means the state will no longer be setting the requirements, counties will.
Some counties, he conceded, will open up on May 1 but he said they have to judge their own situation, which is likely very different from that of their neighbors.
Another exception, he said, is that the Nevada Gaming Control Board will continue to maintain control over the state’s gaming floors.
Reducing restrictions in most areas while keeping the mask mandate, “is a common sense bargain.”
At the same time, he said he is moving control over the reopening of school districts and charter schools to the district officials. Effective May 1, school districts will have full authority to make those decisions, Sisolak said.
He said Nevada’s statistics have seen significant improvement since January with greatly reduced hospitalizations. Daily new cases have stabilized at their lowest level in nearly a year but there have been small increases that were expected as the state opened the economy. He said those increases, “do not present a threat.’
As more and more people over age 60 get vaccinated, he said the proportion of virus cases in those age groups continues to reduce.
He said key is to continue vaccinating as many people as possible. Nevada is now receiving 74,000 doses each week and that number is growing.
He said Nevada’s success continues to depend on everyone continuing to operate safely.
“Every resident has a stake in this,” he said adding that every Nevadan should get the vaccine when it is available to them.
