Hotels and casinos along the Las Vegas Strip are closing their doors due to coronavirus


Some of the most popular hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, employing tens of thousands of workers, are shutting down amid the coronavirus pandemic.
MGM Resorts International, which owns the Bellagio, MGM Grand, The Mirage, and several other resorts, announced on Sunday it is temporarily suspending operations at all of its Las Vegas properties. Chairman and CEO Jim Murren said the closure is "for the good of our employees, guests, and communities," as it is "now apparent" that the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic is "a public health crisis that requires major collective action if we are to slow its progression."
MGM Resorts will close its casinos on Monday and hotels on Tuesday; the company did not say when it expects operations to resume. There are two confirmed cases of MGM employees with COVID-19: one worked at the Luxor resort and another at the Wet Republic pool at MGM Grand, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Wynn Resorts will also close its Wynn Las Vegas and Encore properties starting Tuesday for two weeks. Caesars Entertainment on Sunday night said it has no plans to close its Nevada casinos and hotels, but is suspending live performances at its properties through March 31.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
August 24 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday's political cartoons include Putin at Donald Trump's circus, gallons of whitewash, and a foldable cartoon
-
5 Post Office-approved cartoons about mail-in voting
Cartoons Artists take on reverse logic, Putin's election advice, and more
-
The battle of the weight-loss drugs
Talking Point Can Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly regain their former stock market glory? A lot is riding on next year's pills
-
New York court tosses Trump's $500M fraud fine
Speed Read A divided appeals court threw out a hefty penalty against President Trump for fraudulently inflating his wealth
-
Trump said to seek government stake in Intel
Speed Read The president and Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan reportedly discussed the proposal at a recent meeting
-
US to take 15% cut of AI chip sales to China
Speed Read Nvidia and AMD will pay the Trump administration 15% of their revenue from selling artificial intelligence chips to China
-
NFL gets ESPN stake in deal with Disney
Speed Read The deal gives the NFL a 10% stake in Disney's ESPN sports empire and gives ESPN ownership of NFL Network
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year