Carolyn Goodman compared the decisions by Gov. Sisolak to tyranny
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as Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman called for lifting of COVID-19 restrictions on the one-year anniversary of the city’s shut down.
During Wednesday’s city council meeting, Goodman recalled wanting a “more nuanced” approach to the pandemic restrictions instituted by Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak in March 2020. At the time, he shut down casinos and schools and called on Nevadans to stay home to stop the spread of the virus.
“One year ago, on Wednesday, March 18, 2020, I stood before you to express my deep concerns about completely shutting down our beloved Las Vegas — its hotels, its businesses, and its schools,” Goodman said, as reported by FOX5. “This decision by one individual, which required no vote by the Nevada Legislature or any other elected body, promised to cause undue hardship to hundreds of thousands of Nevadans.”
Statement from today’s City Council meeting pic.twitter.com/iuXZARg3aq
— Carolyn G. Goodman (@mayoroflasvegas) March 17, 2021
Goodman has consistently criticized the measures implemented by the state, calling business shutdowns “total insanity” and going viral after an interview with CNN‘s Anderson Cooper criticizing the COVID-19 restrictions. “As I pleaded for moderation, some individuals — especially certain newscasters — took great issue with my stance to enact reasonable safety precautions and entrust Nevadans and tourists to make responsible decisions,” Goodman said.
Gov. Sisolak recently allowed businesses, including casinos, to open at 50% capacity. Goodman criticized that the state was still in a reduced capacity, comparing the decisions by Sisolak to tyranny. “There is apparently no sunset of emergency powers bestowed to some governors, which smacks of tyranny,” she said. “I am now calling for a return to personal responsibility and personal liberty. Those who do not want or choose to go out to public places are not forced to do so, just as those who do not want the vaccine are not forced to get it. Those who want to wear a mask — or two or three of them — are not prevented from wearing them.”
Goodman claimed “the science” hadn’t proven that the shutdowns accomplished anything more than “reasonable precautions.
Following a press conference regarding the COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday night, Sisolak addressed the comments. “I have relied since the beginning, since day one of the COVID pandemic on the scientific data that we had at the time to make the decisions that I made on closing businesses, closing schools. They have not been easy decisions,” he said. “It has been my priority to protect the health and wellbeing of every resident of the state of Nevada. Businesses will come back, the economy will come back, you’re seeing it right now … in the meantime, we protected people the best we possibly can because that’s my priority. And the one thing that won’t change is that the economy will come back … but that kitchen chair when you have Easter dinner, or Thanksgiving dinner, is empty because you lost a loved one to COVID, that person is not coming back.”
