Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman struggled to justify her reasoning for opening up casinos during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.
During the interview, Cooper questioned Goodman for wanting to reopen the Las Vegas strip without the necessary measures to mitigate the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Cooper noted a study that found that one person at a restaurant in China infected at least nine other people who were eating nearby.
That’s when Goodman snapped.
“This isn’t China!” Goodman exclaimed. “This is Las Vegas, Nevada.”
“Wow,” Cooper shot back. “Okay, that’s really ignorant… That’s an ignorant, ignorant statement. That’s a restaurant. And yes, it’s in China but they are human beings too.”
The CNN host went on to castigate Goodman as “irresponsible” for her call to reopen casinos.
“It just seems really irresponsible,” Cooper advised. “You’re not out there doing anything about trying to improve testing… or improve contact tracing. You’re simply sitting there and saying, ‘Get back to work, get these casinos open again.’”
“And you have no idea or plan,” he added. “You’ve done nothing to try to figure out what’s the best way to make that happen. How far apart should a dealer be from the people? I mean, you’re offering nothing other than being a cheerleader.”
Take a look at the discussion in the video clip below: