Wynn Resorts: 548 Las Vegas Employees Tested Positive for COVID-19 Since May

Posted on: September 18, 2020, 10:14h. 

Last updated on: September 18, 2020, 12:05h.

Philip Conneller @casinoorgphilc Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

In Las Vegas, 548 Wynn Resorts employees have tested positive for COVID-19, with some 497 of those cases confirmed after Nevada reopened its casinos on June 4. Three staff members died from the virus, the company said in a statement. A Wynn spokesman told The Associated Press it was offering financial aid to the bereaved families.

Wynn Resorts
Wynn Resorts has been randomly testing employees and guests who experience symptoms for COVID-19 since early May. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

The disclosure is part of the Wynn Resort’s commitment to public transparency, which it says is part of its effort to keep workers and guests safe during the pandemic.

Wynn’s Surveillance Testing Program randomly checks groups of up to 700 employees every two weeks, which helps to detect any workers who are infected but asymptomatic. It was launched on May 7.

Downward Infectious Rate

State officials have recently come under fire for declining to publish data on the specific location of coronavirus flareups. Governor Steve Sisolak (D) has talked about the need to protect the economy and has cautioned about the harm that could be done to businesses by naming and shaming.

Wynn has no such qualms. The company said it has conducted 15,051 tests since May, which translates to a positivity rate of 3.6 percent at its two Las Vegas properties. That’s below the national average, it noted.

It also reported a downward trend in virus positivity rates, which is to be expected because Nevada’s infection rates have been falling since a mid-June peak. The recent round of testing, conducted on September 11, produced just one positive test out of 286 employees, Wynn said.

Just Six Guests Confirmed

“The Company has 10 employees dedicated full-time to contact tracing for positive employee cases,” said Wynn in a statement. “The team interviews every infected employee and works with security to review all available surveillance coverage. The Company’s contact tracing results reveal that 98 percent of the employees testing positive contracted the virus outside of work.”

The Wynn Las Vegas has hosted more than 500,000 guests since reopening after lockdown. Just six confirmed as positive in that time via the in-room testing the company offers to guests displaying symptoms.

State health officials said Thursday that more than one in four Clark County residents who recently tested positive for COVID-19 may have picked up the virus at a hotel, motel, or casino resort.

As of Friday, there had been 63,301 recorded cases of COVID-19 in Clark County and 74,792 in the entire state of Nevada.