A Tale of Two Cities: Las Vegas, NV and Cedar City, UT

On Friday, we engaged in what has become a spring ritual for us: We moved from one home in Las Vegas to a second in southern Utah, Cedar City. Why? In all years past, the summer high temperatures in Cedar City can be twenty or more degrees cooler. Summer in Cedar City is hot. It has reached 100 degrees. We do have AC, and we use it. And, Cedar City is a much smaller place with a regional university, a population of 30K, and an agricultural, light industrial economy. The place is cute for days and within a reasonable ride to several national parks with great hiking and sights.

There’s a substantial COVID-19 difference as well.

YTD, Las Vegas has had 4,411 confirmed infections and 226 deaths. Nevada statewide has had 5,594 confirmed infections and 266 deaths for its 3.08M residents. So, Las Vegas has 79% of the total state infections and 85% of the deaths.

By contrast, Cedar City has had 17 confirmed infections, and no one has died. Utah statewide has had 5,317 confirmed infections and 50 deaths for its 3.02M residents. Cedar City has 0.3% of the total state infections, and of course, 0% of the deaths.

The comparison is striking. Both states have comparable populations and infections. In Nevada, the death rate is 5x that of Utah. 85% of deaths in Nevada occurred in Las Vegas. Utah has no county, city, or town with a comparable mortality rate.

It would be interesting to know why, but that’s not the purpose of this blog entry. Instead, I’m going to point out the differences in attitude regarding COVID-19 between Las Vegas and Cedar City.

Let’s get personal. I haven’t had a haircut since mid-February. First, I had a health issue (here), and then we were quarantined until we left Las Vegas on May 1^st. The hair salons, stylists, and barbers were shut down in Las Vegas where they were deemed non-essential. In Cedar City, these places of business never closed. I was told the situation was different in and around the Salt Lake area in parts north.

Yesterday, I strapped on my face mask and ventured out to get a haircut. This popular place of business had a chair propping open the door. No social distancing of any type or kind in place or being practiced. The stylists weren’t wearing any type of protective gear, although they did disinfect the credit card reader and styling chair between customers. Walking in with a face mask immediately marked me as a fool in the view of some present in the shop.

One customer and stylist were in complete agreement. If you fear infection, stay home. If you’re willing to exercise your freedom, then come in to work and cut hair (the stylist) and come on in a get a haircut (customer). It was, as they both agreed, a great day to walk around town and have your hair styled.

I wear a face mask to protect those I come in contact. If I have the virus, and I’m asymptomatic, then I don’t want to be a Typhoid Mary of my time. My stylist believed my concern was adorable but misplaced. She didn’t have the virus. She doesn’t know anyone who has or does. Remember, Cedar City’s YTD has 17 confirmed cases.

Over at the Walmart, things were of two minds. The store had one-way walking lanes laid out with directional floor markers. Great concept if you understood you were to walk only in the direction of the arrows. Not everyone did. Workers were issued both face masks and gloves. Some pulled their masks down to improve their ability and comfort to chat with other workers and customers. The appropriate social distance was—well, that wasn’t clear at all. The advertised touchless self-serve cash register insisted on—touching the screen. No disinfecting between customers.

The Smith’s grocery store was undergoing a complete interior renovation. Walking inside was like entering a combat zone where all the demo was done but none of the new interior finishes had yet to begin. We did see some shoppers wearing face masks, some even wore gloves. There was a constant stream of chatter from the store speaker system asking shoppers to exercise restraint to avoid hoarding and maintain minimum social distancing.

We visited a new bakery in town, the Silver Silo. Workers behind the counter worked just as they would have worked around the home, but not in accordance with the Governor’s strict rules. No hairnets or coverings of any kind. No face masks. No gloves. And everyone worked cheek to jowl, so to speak, with their fellow workers. The customers were no different. Again, our face masks drew a lot of attention.

We had a curbside delivery of the world’s best fried chicken sandwiches at Culvers. All of their staff were in complete compliance with the best and mandated practices of public health and food preparation. A world of difference.

I went to the Post Office. The usual long line waiting for service, although the appropriate safe distance markings were present on the floor. They weren’t observed, of course, but an attempt was made. No one disinfected the customer service area after each customer departed. And, once again, I was the lone visitor from Mars wearing a face mask.

The healthcare community is well prepared. So much so it’s striking. There’s no visitation at the hospital unless it’s for an end-of-life patient. Even then there are strict limits. Physicians and dentists are hurting. Patient visits are way down. Elective procedures have been limited. All healthcare workers are expecting layoffs and salary reductions.

Why is it a city’s healthcare community can so “get it,” while everyone else in the city seems less so?

It seems a foregone conclusion that Southern Utah University (SUU) will have a typical fall semester return. That’s about 8K students arriving from out of town with whatever they bring with them. SUU has always had a large international student population in the past. This year? It’s unclear. The onslaught of students each fall is both unmistakable and unavoidable in Cedar City. The whole population was sent home in mid-March and throughout the summer term where distance learning was the new norm. Even the Shakespeare Festival was redirected from its usual morning, afternoon, and evening theatrical production schedule to on-line video streaming events.

For the fall there’s been no word about SUU’s Football and Home Coming.

I am very glad to be in Cedar City. First and foremost, the haircut did more to boost my spirits than I could have imagined. The town is virtually untouched by the COVID-19—or so it seems. There’s no available testing. People here seem to have a better chance at being asymptomatic than, say, Las Vegas. And no one here knows anyone who was sick and certainly no one who has died. 

Las Vegas is under 200 miles south of Cedar City, but where COVID-19 is concerned, it’s in a different solar system. Delivery services leave your goods at your front door, ring the bell, and promptly disappear. Can’t get a haircut. Can’t have your nails done. Gambling, drinking, and eating out are memories. Social distancing is the norm as are face masks.

SUU students will probably arrive on campus before the start of classes. There’s orientation, dorms and apartments to occupy, and a final festive family meal at one of the city’s eateries, if this coming fall will be like the others. And, if it is, then I am very worried for Cedar City.

It’s only early May, and COVID-19 infection rates are on the climb in parts of the country where COVID-19 was something you read about on-line or saw in the video news reports during the spring. Cedar City may miss the summer infection bump the epidemiologists are warning about, since the city missed almost all of the spring infection. A return of visitors to the nearby national parks, like Zion and Bryce, might affect the summer COVID-19 experience.

It’s the fall bump we hear about that’s my concern. Not only because of the national experience with the Flu of 1918, but if SUU’s student population returns in force. Culvers may be prepared. The Silver Silo certainly won’t be. Everything else maybe, maybe not.

If the students return to SUU, we’ll already be back in Las Vegas. Las Vegas knows what to do and how to do it. That’s not to say there won’t be COVID-19 fatigue in Las Vegas. The misery of it all was there in force before we left. But sweet Cedar City is so poorly prepared I fear for this place I’ve come to love.

Copyright 2020, Howard D. Weiner