LAS VEGAS (AP) – Six weeks ago, thousands of New Year celebrants gathered under the neon-lit tents on the Las Vegas Strip – despite the huge annual fireworks show being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The sight of the large crowd, including many without a mask, raised fears that COVID-19 infections would skyrocket, followed by hospitalizations and deaths. That’s exactly what happened. January was Nevada’s deadliest month since the pandemic began, with 1,132 deaths. December was the second.

Now the virus is transforming a tourist destination designed to be excessive and known for bright lights, large crowds, indulgent meals, and headlines. Visitors arrive to find some freedoms restricted and some well-known attractions closed, but parking and bargain prices are plentiful. Big performances and conventions are still being suspended.

“We have an industry that invites people from all over the world to come here, and when they do come here, unfortunately, they can bring disease,” said Brian Labus, a longtime epidemiologist in the Southern Nevada Regional Health District who is now the Public Health Teaches at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas. “The concern is that it will spread within our local population.”

As of mid-January, more than half of the hospitals in and around Las Vegas said they were at least 90% full. A suburban medical center declared a capacity crisis with more patients than beds. Almost half of the 147 beds were occupied by coronavirus patients.

Deaths in Nevada hit a daily record of 71 on Jan. 21. As of Thursday, the nationwide total number of deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic began was 4,637.

As in other cities, some overwhelmed funeral directors have used refrigerated trailers to hold the dead, interim coroner Michael Murphy said.

“It’s nothing I’ve ever seen in my nursing career,” said Dina Armstrong, a nurse at MountainView Hospital in northwest Las Vegas. “Dealing with this disease is mind blowing – the stress and the environment.”

The result is far fewer tourists on the streets and “a whole different experience,” said Marilinda Sepulveda, a return visitor, as she and her husband waited to snap photos next to the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign.

The Mission, Texas couple stayed two nights at the Cosmopolitan Hotel in the heart of the Strip. “The nightlife is: you play, you go, you go to your room,” said Sepulveda.

Her husband Ozzy Benavidez spoke through a cloth mask and said they went to magic shows and restaurants. Instead, the two bought take-away meals and ate in their room.

Some marquee properties have been shut down, including the Mirage Casino and its iconic man-made volcanic eruptions on the Strip.

Others, like the Wynn Resorts Hotel Encore, are closed during the week but open on the weekend. The unused meeting room in the slim, curved tower with 2,700 rooms was used as a vaccination center operated by the region’s public hospital. Almost 11,500 people took pictures there.

At the Las Vegas Convention Center, where a huge new wing was due to open in early January for the grand consumer electronics gadget show, officials opened a facility for people receiving their second dose of vaccine. The CES was held virtually.

Up and down the Strip, from the renovated Sahara to gleaming Mandalay Bay with gold windows, visitors have found quiet play floors, enclosed exhibition spaces, and affordable prices.

Daniel Pangau, a pastor at an Indonesian Christian church in Brea, Calif., Reckoned a three-day stay at the Delano Hotel would cost his family of six less than half the pre-pandemic price.

Tourists can find plenty of parking spaces and signs reminding them to wear masks everywhere. You don’t see the thousands of workers who are still out of work.

When the casinos closed in mid-March, 98% of the 60,000 members of the local culinary and bartending unions were on leave. Union spokeswoman Bethany Khan said only about half are now back to work.

At least 115 union members and immediate family members have died from COVID-19, and nearly 2,000 have been hospitalized with the virus since March, Khan said.

Unemployment in Nevada rose from an all-time low of 3.6% in February 2020 to the nation’s lowest record of 30.1% in April. In December it was 9.2%.

According to the state unemployment office, more than 834,000 people submitted applications for unemployment benefits for the first time between mid-March and January 30. That number is especially startling when you weigh the size of the entire nationwide workforce a year ago – 1.4 million people.

Visitor numbers fell by more than half in 2020 – just 19 million – from 42.5 million in 2019, according to data from tourism, airport and gambling authorities.

The casino’s tax revenue, a major source of funding in a state with no income tax, fell 40% in the calendar year, gambling regulators reported.

Major conventions were completely suspended in March and never resumed. The Democratic Governor Steve Sisolak reopened the casinos in June with pandemic mass restrictions. In November he initiated a so-called “break” when reopening.

Citing advances against the virus, the governor announced Thursday that restrictions on businesses and gatherings could be eased over the next three months.

Casinos, gyms, bars, and restaurants will grow from 25% to 35% as of Monday, with seating limits, mask mandates, and social distancing required. Casinos could be 50% busy next month. Clubs and night clubs remain closed.

By the time the shows resume, some seasoned performers may be gone, said Alan Feldman, a longtime casino manager who is now a fellow at the University of Nevada’s International Gaming Institute in Las Vegas.

“A toll yet to be measured is the loss of talent,” Feldman said. “To what extent have people moved on to other careers or back to school or out of the state? That has yet to be determined. “

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR