The Silver State has kept interesting company in its response to COVID.
February 10, 2022
How draconian has Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak’s response to the coronavirus been? To answer that question, it’s useful to consider Nevada’s approach in the context of other states’.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mary Hynes did just that earlier this week, reporting on Monday that:
Nevada is one of nine states that still require people to wear a mask in indoor public places regardless of vaccination status, according to a new report by AARP.
The other states that require masks indoors are California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.
In the days since that report was published, a number of those states have announced they’ll be easing restrictions, bringing the total lower still. And yesterday, reports and rumors began to swirl that Nevada — finally — is about to follow suit.
Even in the midst of this week’s rapidly shifting mask-mandate news, however, it’s worth pausing a moment and considering the list of states that made up the final nine holdouts. Do you notice something? The eight states besides Nevada are all deep-blue politically — which isn’t surprising, given that Democrat-led states have notoriously tended to adopt stricter measures in response to the virus.
But Nevada isn’t deep blue; it’s a swing state. Yet the response of our state government, currently under full Democrat control, has been consistent with what one would expect from those situated on the far left.
It gets even worse. The Review-Journal reported earlier this week that California “will end its indoor masking requirement for vaccinated people next week.” Which means that even if a shift in policy here in Nevada is indeed imminent, we were still slower to ease restrictions than California — the state that has become a universal punchline for its addiction to heavy-handed government.
Two main takeaways: First, if the reports about Nevada are accurate, then this fits right in with Sisolak’s approach throughout the pandemic — plodding, clumsy and incoherent; following rather than leading; and taking action only when prominent Democrats in other states first signal to him that it’s OK to do so.
Second, this whole sorry episode underscores a lamentable truth: that Nevada is currently being governed — lorded over, really — by politicians who are woefully out of touch with the state’s citizens. Nevada Democrats have stubbornly forced an extreme-left approach upon a populace that’s far too ideologically diverse and balanced to accept that kind of relentless radicalism.
Silver State voters will have an opportunity to correct this disconnect in November.
Morning morsels …
COVID
The research is in and lockdowns don’t work (Taylor Millard, The Spectator): A new Johns Hopkins systematic review cuts in two the narrative that government-imposed mandates meaningfully prevent coronavirus deaths. The review looked at 34 different studies analyzing business and school closings, shelter-in-place orders, and international travel bans. … The results of this meta-analysis are striking. Lockdowns reduced Covid mortality by an average of only .02 percent. Read more >
EDUCATION
CCSD continues to fail. This is how you fix education in Nevada. (Victor Joecks, Las Vegas Review-Journal): Nevada needs school choice. Allow parents to control some of the money the government already spends. Let parents spend it on private schools, home-schooling or online classes. … Voters may get a chance to approve just that. At the end of January, the Education Freedom PAC filed a constitutional amendment to create “education freedom accounts.” Those accounts would receive funding comparable to what Nevada spends on a child in public school, around $7,000. Read more >
THE OLYMPICS
Olympics Opening Ceremony draws record-low ratings (Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports): NBC is facing a cataclysmic loss of audience for the 2022 Winter Olympics as viewership tanked for Friday’s Opening Ceremony, averaging just 16 million. It is a record low for the Opening Ceremony (20.1 million for 1988 in Calgary was the previous record) and a whopping 43 percent below the 2018 Games in South Korea that notched 28.3 million viewers despite also dealing with a less than advantageous Asian time zone for American audiences. ... The host country, China, is a serious problem. Read more >
FROM THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Republican candidates for governor debate in Henderson (Blake Apgar, Las Vegas Review-Journal): Republican candidates for governor of Nevada clashed Tuesday during a debate sponsored by the Jesse Law-led Clark County Republican Party in Henderson. Former U.S. Sen. Dean Heller, North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee, Las Vegas Councilwoman Michele Fiore, Reno attorney Joey Gilbert, Gardnerville surgeon Fred Simon and Reno venture capitalist Guy Nohra took part in the event, which was moderated by Review-Journal columnist Victor Joecks. Read more >
ENERGY
9th Circuit lifts 90-day ban at geothermal plant in Nevada (Elko Daily Free Press): A federal appeals court has lifted a temporary ban on construction of a Nevada geothermal power plant opposed by a tribe and conservationists who say the site is sacred and home to a rare toad being considered for endangered species protection. Read more >
Nye County Commission urges proposed solar farm to find new home (Brent Schanding, Pahrump Valley Times): Nye County commissioners are urging developers of a proposed solar farm, planned for more than 2,000 acres of public desert lands in Pahrump, to investigate alternative sites. In a joint letter sent Tuesday to Bureau of Land Management officials, who oversee the proposed building site, commissioners expressed concerns about the ground-mounted Rough Hat Nye County Solar Project. Read more >
AFGHANISTAN
The Afghanistan Debacle Looks Worse and Worse (David Harsanyi, National Review): "The more we learn about the administration’s Afghanistan withdrawal, the more it becomes clear that its decisions were driven by political considerations and panic." Read more >
NOTABLE QUOTE
“The psychic, developmental, and emotional damage that Democrats have pounded into kids over the last two years may never be overcome, although it will surely be punished by parents at the ballot box in November.” ― Kyle Smith
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