A look at Las Vegas 2 years after Nevada’s COVID-19 shutdown

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — Wednesday marked two years since Governor Steve Sisolak announced that Nevada would be closing for business as the COVID-19 pandemic raged on.

“This is affecting the lives of our citizens. People are dying,” Sisolak had said in his announcement. “It’s incumbent upon the people of this state to take this seriously.”

When the shutdown was first announced, many were worried about what was to come. From tourism to conventions, many changes have impacted Las Vegas, and one big change has been more people working remotely.

Sarah Evans told 8 News Now that the pandemic changed her lifestyle as her business, Sevans PR, went remote like many others.

“I wear sweatpants on the bottom most of the time,” Evans said. “During the pandemic, we shut it down temporarily, only never to return.”

In March 2020, the Las Vegas Strip shut down and fears of recession-like impacts kicked in, and two years later, many are surprised by the impact the pandemic has had.

Brian Gordon from Applied Analysis told 8 News Now that although the economy slowed, the real estate market didn’t, and that in 2021, more than 75,000 people surrendered out-of-state licenses.

“The tourism industry shut down, the economy as a whole really slowed, and then we saw this ramp-up in activity when the recovery took hold,” he said. “People’s ability to work remotely helped bring folks in and allowed them to generate additional demand in the housing market.”

Gordon also mentioned that rent has gone up substantially during the pandemic, and that he doesn’t see it slowing anytime soon.

The idea of working from home also prompted many to move, and real estate agent Roszettie Gutierrez-Uy said that she still gets clients who are going to be in Las Vegas working remotely.

“A lot of my business is out of state, mainly because of the value and price,” she said.

During the pandemic, the City of Las Vegas launched a campaign on LinkedIn to show people why living in Las Vegas is a good option when working remotely. The city had more than 3,000 connections and hundreds of inquiries on LinkedIn due to that campaign.

Sarah Evans also said that it’s been a success as more companies are going remote, especially when setting up meetings.

“We are remote decentralized, we have clients who are remote and decentralized, nobody has an HQ,” she continued. “People are looking for opportunities to bond online and find ways to connect, its not a hard sell to get them to come to Vegas to meet up.”