Las Vegas Strip Has a Covid-Created ‘Fatal Fungus’ Problem

The pandemic created the perfect conditions for a deadly new problem, and Nevada's entire congressional delegation wants help from the CDC.

Few things get Democrats and Republicans on the same page. 

Disagreement has become a partisan badge of honor. A proclamation declaring cookies delicious would likely have trouble passing if one party suggested the idea, simply due to the optics of being seen agreeing with the other side.

That makes it special, and a little terrifying, that the ongoing outbreak of the deadly fungus Candida auris, often referred to as C. Auris, has grown so widely that Nevada's entire congressional delegation is asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for help. 

Admittedly, the state has two Democratic Party senators, and only one of the state's four House representatives is a Republican. But it's clearly a serious situation when both parties bless a public cry for help.

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In a letter the delegation called on the CDC to take decisive action against fungus Candida auris and to “swiftly deliver necessary resources to the public health professionals and health care providers in Nevada on the front lines of this outbreak.” the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

Southern Nevada, which includes Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip, has faced a huge C. Auris outbreak at its hospitals and long-term-care facilities. That's not just a local problem because tourists from all over the world use those hospitals when they're visiting the city and the Strip.

Las Vegas Strip Is Vulnerable to Health Issues 

While covid shut down Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip for a period, its impact lingered even after pandemic-related rules were lifted. 

Caesars Entertainment (CZR) - Get Free Report and MGM Resorts International (MGM) - Get Free Report management have both talked openly about how business travel and international travel recovered slowly.

Attendance  at the first in-person CES show in 2022 plummeted, and major companies pulled out due to the omicron variant. It wasn't so much that there was a deadly risk -- the conference required proof of vaccination -- it was an optics issue.

Companies did not want to be seen as being callous to people's health. So as cases were rising due to omicron -- even though they were not causing major health problems for the vast majority of vaccinated people -- sending employees to Las Vegas for a trade show became a bad look.

The rise of Candida auris poses the same risk factor for Caesars, MGM, and every other operator on the Strip and in the city.

Nevada Asks CDC Help With Deadly Health Crisis

In its letter to CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, Nevada's congressional delegation makes clear that it thinks the agency has not done enough to stop the spread of C. Auris. 

The fungus, which can be lethal, has now spread to 26 states. The CDC has classified Candida auris, a drug-resistant fungus, as an "urgent threat."  

The rise of C. Auris was helped by the covid pandemic.

"Covid-19 likely increases the risk for fungal infections because of its effect on the immune system and because treatments for Covid-19 (like steroids and other drugs) can weaken the body’s defenses against fungi," the CDC says on its website.

“While we are incredibly grateful for the support CDC has provided Nevada’s state and local health officials over the past several years, C. auris case numbers in southern Nevada have been alarmingly trending in the wrong direction,” states the letter, which the entire delegation signed.

The delegation wants the CDC to "work with state officials to develop a comprehensive plan that includes direct support to affected facilities, creation, and dissemination of best practices for contamination and treatment, and additional resources to support laboratory testing capacity," according to the Review-Journal.

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