When the Strip reopened in early June,

many employees accepted the risk because they needed a paycheck.

The majority of visitors disregarded the new safety measures. The

Culinary Workers Union Local 226 emerged as an important advocate

for workers, documenting widespread lack of social distancing

and mask usage and shortages of hand sanitizer and other employee

protections. Toe union demanded that the major gaming companies

publicly release their safety plans and supported a mandatory mask

policy. After a sharp increase in covm-19 cases and hospitalizations,

Governor Sisolak announced a statewide facial covering requirement

by the end of the month and the Culinary Union filed a lawsuit against

several Strip operators. Toe complaint encouraged meaningful negotiations,

and the union and companies set forth the Adolfo Fernandez

Bill (sa4) to the Nevada Legislature, a proposal in honor of a Caesars

Palace porter who died of covm-19 complications after contracting

the virus at work. Governor Sisolak signed the bill in August, the first

state law in the nation to require comprehensive measures to protect

hospitality employees against the spread of covm-19. Toe law covered

280,000 workers statewide, and inaugurated higher cleaning, social

distancing, and mask usage standards, new testing and contact tracing

requirements, and time off for exposed workers. Toe covm-19 pandemic

fundamentally shifted Strip operations and promised to place

greater value in public health protections.