Unvaccinated Staff at MGM Resorts Asked to Pay for COVID Tests

According to claims in the media, Nevada’s biggest employer and owner of the majority of Las Vegas Strip casino resorts is asking non-vaccinated staff members to pay $15 every week for Co-vid testing.

MGM’s head of media relations, Brian Ahern, tells Casino.org that this isn’t necessarily true. MGM, according to Ahern, launched a new testing procedure on July 26. Any non-vaccinated Las Vegas employee who is not working from home is required to participate.

During a designated week, four groups (A-E, F-L, M-R, S-Z) will be tested based on their last names. First in line are employees in the A-E group with testing beginning this week.

Workers can choose between paying $15 as a copay for testing on the site or performing their own PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test. The latter requires the person to bring the results in during the test week. Test results from off-site locations can be posted to My MGM, the company’s employee portal, online.

MGM workers who have been vaccinated must upload proof of immunization on the employee portal as per company policy. They are no longer eligible to participate in the ongoing group test once it has been confirmed by MGM corporate human resources.

Staff members who are COVID positive will have to go home and quarantine themselves. Non-vaccinated personnel who get the coronavirus will not be compensated for their required time off, according to MGM.

As COVID cases rise in the South of Nevada, Clark County reintroduced the requirement that all government employees wear face masks when inside crowded workstations last week. When the gaming floor is busy, the Nevada Gaming Control Board endorsed the recommendation, requiring all casino employees to wear face covers.

Clark County’s direction, which has the support of Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D), aims to address COVID-19’s recent increase while letting the region’s economy to keep working.

MGM Resorts has routinely advised staff and their families to get immunized, as have many other Strip casinos. However, there seems to be some skepticism among Nevadans.

Nevada’s vaccination rate has continuously trailed behind the national average. According to the most recent statistics, 57 percent of all American citizens have gotten at least one COVID-19 treatment, with 49.4 percent having received all three doses.