Sisolak says Minden, Henderson could be penalized for Trump rallies

Gov. Steve Sisolak says the state is looking into whether Douglas County and Henderson violated agreements by allowing President Trump campaign rallies.

At the Wednesday pandemic update, Sisolak said every local government that received CARES Act funding signed an agreement to follow all directives. Asked whether he was considering withholding funding to those governments, he said:

“I’m disappointed Douglas County decided to allow the event,” he said. “We’re looking at exactly what happened.”

He said no decisions have been made yet.

Sisolak pointed out that Monday will mark two weeks following Labor Day.

“And yes, I expect there will be an increase from Labor Day.”

He said the state won’t know the impact of the Trump rallies until at least two weeks have passed.

Sisolak also announced he has sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence asking for clarity on the state efforts to follow White House Coronavirus Task Force recommendations after Trump held those two large pubic gatherings, violating state emergency directives. He said the task force needs to explain to Nevadans how to reconcile the federal public health recommendations with the president’s contradictory actions in Nevada.

Sisolak said generally, Nevada is making significant progress in improving its numbers.

Nationally, he said Nevada has been in the Yellow Zone instead of Red Zone for two weeks now and the travel advisory on the Silver State has been lifted in New York and New Jersey.

The state added just 208 cases since Tuesday and the daily positivity rate is 7 percent.

“While this is good news, we have learned over the course of the past six months we cannot let our guard down now,” he said.

He said continued progress relies on Nevadans continuing to wear masks, limit public gatherings and maintain social distancing

After he relaxed restrictions in June there was a surge in cases and the state had to again impose restrictions including shutting down bars.

Those bars are set to reopen at midnight Wednesday in Washoe County but Sisolak cautioned that they must adhere to the standards and restrictions imposed by his directives.

However, Sisolak announced recently that, instead of a blanket approach to imposing restrictions on all businesses in a category, his administration and the counties are using a more targeted approach, cracking down on individual businesses that violate the rules.

He said they are also reviewing the 50 person limits on gatherings and capacity and, if possible, may be able to ease the rules on church and business gatherings in the near future.