Las Vegas remains very sensitive to bad press, especially when it comes to health-related issues.
In many ways the situation is a lot like norovirus or flu on cruise ships. Though the cruise industry has invested hundreds of millions in health and safety protocols and outbreaks are incredibly rare, any sickness on a ship gets covered and conflated by a media that's happy to lean into a lazy narrative.
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The same thing has been happening in Las Vegas, where a handful of guests (actually four, so a "Simpsons" handful) have reported seeing bedbugs since September. That's an incredibly small number, but if you Googled Las Vegas Strip during any of the past few days, you will see headlines like "Bed Bugs reported at four Las Vegas Strip hotels."
That's technically true, but the reality is that each hotel had a single reported incident. Bedbugs, of course, make news because they're gross and they spread quickly. But four incidents in three months mean that Caesars Entertainment (CZR) , MGM Resorts International, Wynn Resorts and other Strip operators are clearly doing the right things.
Much like the cruise lines, however, the casino operators don't get credit for the fact that an overwhelming majority of visitors do not get sick.
The casino operators, however, may have bedbugs under control, but that does not mean they have nothing to worry about as a deadly health crisis has been growing in Nevada.
Image source: Denise Truscello/WireImage via Getty Images
Las Vegas Strip battles perception and reality
The Las Vegas Strip remains susceptible to public perception. That became evident in the runup to the 2022 CES show. That event was scheduled to be an in-person show which was expected to draw more than 100,000 people — fewer than most years, but it would have been Las Vegas's largest event since the covid shutdown.
Rising numbers of covid's omicron variant, however, led to public outcry about companies putting workers at risk. It did not matter that attendees had to prove vaccination and produce negative tests before entering the show; the perception of danger led most of the major brands to pull their people.
That led to a show that was a ghost town, and empty hotels, which are usually packed to the brim at premium prices. It was a devastating blow to Caesars, MGM and Wynn, but an even bigger one to lesser operators whose properties also sell out at high prices during the annual event.
CES 2022, however, was a one-time event where the perception created a bad reality. Since then Las Vegas has hosted the NFL draft, a Formula 1 race, the Super Bowl and its usual jam-packed New Year's and March Madness events.
That does not mean that the Las Vegas Strip has nothing to fear as cases of the so-called superbug, Candida auris, have hit a record in southern Nevada.
Las Vegas Strip faces a superbug
"Candida auris (C. auris) is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and spreads easily among patients in health-care facilities. It is often resistant to antifungal treatments, which means that the medications that are designed to kill the fungus and stop infections do not work," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cases of C. auris have been rising in the U.S. in general, but southern Nevada has seen the hard-to-treat superbug reach record levels, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
"Facilities last month reported 69 invasive infections — also called clinical cases — of the potentially deadly fungus, according to data from the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health," the newspaper reported. "Also reported were 133 colonization cases, in which the fungus typically dwells in folds of the skin without making a person ill. Although the data is statewide, the vast majority of cases have been detected in Southern Nevada."
Rising C. auris numbers could be a problem because of the perception of it as a deadly fungus.
"C. auris mostly affects patients with severe underlying medical conditions and requiring complex medical care," the CDC says. "Patients with invasive medical devices like breathing tubes, feeding tubes, catheters in a vein, or urinary catheters tend to be at increased risk for getting C. auris and developing an infection."
At the same time, the CDC suggests that it's not something most people should be worried about.
"In general, C. auris is not a threat to healthy people. CDC typically does not recommend screening or testing family members. Family members should use alcohol-based hand sanitizer or wash their hands before entering and leaving a patient’s room and before and after contact with the patient or a patient’s medical devices," the agency wrote.
C. auris has no set symptoms but it can cause infections all over the body. It's resistant to treatment. The fungus can also colonize a person who does not actually get infected, which can lead to the unknowing spread of the fungus.
