LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — If you lived in Nevada five years ago, you remember what happened on March 17 — the day former Gov. Steve Sisolak closed all non-essential businesses in our state, including resorts on the Strip and downtown, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Learn why is took so long to get unemployment checks during COVID here.
Overnight, the closures left thousands of workers and independent contractors with no income. Locals were desperately applying for federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance, or PUA — but the checks weren't coming.
I helped hundreds of our viewers at the time get paid, advocating and calling on our governor and Nevada lawmakers to help with the broken Department of Employment, Training & Rehabilitation (DETR) system.
"I've been without a paycheck since around March."
Those were the words from freelance photographer Richard Brian Salmeron in an interview I did with him in March 2020.
▶ Looking Back PUA claimant: 'I feel let down': Nevadans, Channel 13 seek answers on unpaid unemployment
I reported on dozens of independent contractors during the pandemic — people like Salmeron, who applied for Pandemic Unemployment Assistance just days after the state launched the portal.
Like tens of thousands of Nevadans, Salmeron got an approval letter, but the money didn't come fast enough. Trying to get any help from the hotline turned into frustration.
"Every time you're on hold, you think you're going to get through, and then they hang up on you, and it's kind of a defeating moment when the phone system just says 'goodbye,'" Salmeron told me.
Like many of you, Salmeron wanted answers from then-Gov. Sisolak on what was being done with what he called a "broken unemployment system" unable to handle the massive number of claims during the pandemic.
I followed up with Sisolak, outlining your concerns. Watch the full interview here.
TRICIA KEAN: Suddenly, there are people with no paychecks and no money coming in, and that was a very scary space to be in.
STEVE SISOLAK: It was tremendously scary. And to make that decision, there were a lot of sleepless nights.
Handling consumer issues for many years, I wanted to do my part during the pandemic, answering desperate Channel 13 viewer emails, messages and social media posts. Some people even told me they felt suicidal with no money.
I called on the governor to do more for our community.
"I've met Sisolak, I've taken his pictures, I've voted for him... but I feel let down by him right now," Salmeron said.
Many Nevadans resorted to selling off personal items, maxing out credit cards with negative balances in their bank accounts — not to mention suffering depression by not receiving money from the state.
SISOLAK: We were dealing with tens of thousands of cases. And you get one viewer that's calling in. And I understand their problem is the most important problem.
KEAN: Well, I got more than one viewer. We were getting hundreds of viewers. I was staying up until 4:30 in the morning answering every viewer because there was such a need. And I just wanted the Thomas & Mack [Center] to open and gift cards to be handed out for people because they were literally dire. Do you know, to this day, governor, I still hear from people who say thank you so much for trying to help people during that time because we were freaking out. Families were so scared.
SISOLAK: Yeah, they were. And I understand why they were scared. I totally get why they're scared. But the system was never set up to deal with any of that.
And now, five years later, the former governor tells me there have been some upgrades, but the DETR system is still broken.
SISOLAK: If you think it's fixed, it's not fixed.
KEAN: That's a problem.
SISOLAK: Yeah, it's definitely a problem. I hope that we'll never need it like we needed it then. I mean, you never would have anticipated handling the number of claims in a week that you normally would handle in a year. I mean, I was going through staff at DETR. They were quitting. They couldn't take it anymore. They were getting abused.
With eight state adjudicators working 12 claims a day during the pandemic, it was a slow process to get Nevadans who desperately needed money just to put food on the table.
The former governor says massive fraud was also slowing things down.
SISOLAK: Hundreds of millions of dollars have [been] lost to fraudsters as a result of this because we couldn't get the money into the right hands. The logistics of reaching out to the number of people that needed help; we just don't have an infrastructure in place to do that. And there wasn't one. There isn't one today.
Looking back, Sisolak tells me he was dealt a once-in-a-lifetime situation. It came with making tough decisions that he believes cost him the 2022 election to current Gov. Joe Lombardo.
SISOLAK: We did what we had to do to protect people's lives. I mean, we lost 12,000 that we could quantify, that we categorize as losing them to COVID. How many more it could be, I don't know. But I don't know how many tens of thousands of lives we saved as a result of what we put in place.
KEAN: And that, you feel good about?
SISOLAK: I feel very good about that...I know it cost me the election. It's not in my mind. And my people told me they're going in, but I wouldn't change that.
KEAN: Would you ever run again?
SISOLAK: I don't know. I get asked all the time. We'll see. Maybe. Maybe two years.
COVID-19 Five Years Later, Channel 13 is bringing you special coverage all day Monday as we explore the lasting impacts and lessons learned.
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