LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Five years ago today came the first reported COVID-19 death in Nevada. One day later, then-Gov. Steve Sisolak ordered the closure of the Las Vegas Strip, along with non-essential businesses.
Former Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman became the critical voice of the governor's action, saying she felt we could save lives and save businesses by staying open.
I recently followed up with Goodman to ask about her public opposition that, at the time, made international headlines.
TRICIA KEAN: You and the governor had two different views of what should happen during the pandemic.
CAROLYN GOODMAN: Well, he was the boss and he made the decisions.
KEAN: He did, but you were very outspoken that you wanted to see Las Vegas continue.
GOODMAN: Right. We'd never closed. The country had never closed anything.
I've known Goodman for years, and she's never shy about speaking her mind. She says she wasn't the only one who felt that shutting down non-essential businesses was a bad idea.
"[People told me] 'You go for it, mayor! You're the best. You love Las Vegas. Keep us open,'" Goodman said. "And I would always respond deferentially to our governor. I said, 'It's not my call,' but I was hopeful we could do something."
That stance caught a lot of people's attention, including some high-profile figures.
The former mayor tells me once the media frenzy started, she had a number of interviews lined up to explain her position — including a now-infamous conversation with CNN's Anderson Cooper. Goodman says she was told the interview would only be 3 to 5 minutes.
"It went for 27 minutes, I think," Goodman recalled. "It was a long interview because he was trying, you know, he was trying to be sensationalistic. And beyond that, he hadn't done his homework...He didn't know that the Strip was not in the purview and control of the mayor."
During that contentious interview, Goodman called for everything in Las Vegas to open up, even going so far as saying she wanted the city to be used as an experiment to see if social distancing procedures worked.
Goodman told Cooper she was trying to fight for everyone who was out of work in her city, but it wasn't up to her to get resources like test kits that could allow businesses to open back up sooner.
The next day on CNN, Cooper reacted to his interview with Goodman.
"But even that, to me, as an elected official, I would think that would come with responsibility for the safety of the people in the city and concern for people about the health for the people in the city, not just the economic health," Cooper said. "It surprised me. It's not how I expected the interview to go."
For two people known for speaking their minds, a bit of controversy comes with the territory. They addressed some of those clashes with me in an interview for our Channel 13 special "The Goodman Years."
Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick did not agree with Goodman's comments.
"To use it as a science experiment — I'm not willing to use the community that I love and grew up in to do that," Kirkpatrick said.
And Gov. Sisolak believes staying open would have cost more than the 12,000+ Nevada lives that were lost to the coronavirus.
"I mean, what could have happened had we kept Las Vegas and the downtown? And so everybody knows I wasn't shutting down the casinos against their will," Sisolak told me. "I mean, it wasn't like I was forcing them to shut down and lose their business. They were coming to me saying, 'Look, governor, we've got to go something. Maybe we should shut down. Maybe we should do something.' They were totally supportive. They understood what we were facing."
Five years after the Las Vegas Strip shut down, former Gov. Steve Sisolak reflects on the dark times brought by the COVID-19 pandemic:
But Goodman says she has no regrets. And with the right protocols in place, she still believes there was a safe way to keep Las Vegas open.
KEAN: Have you looked back on that interview with Anderson Cooper?
GOODMAN: I saw it once, and I mean, when he made the comment to Korea, the restaurants in Korea, I remember saying, 'What's that got to do with Las Vegas?' But I just had written him off.
KEAN: Did you say somewhere, 'I would like an apology from Anderson Cooper?'
GOODMAN: I have said it enough times...It was so rude! I remember that. So lack of class. All he wanted was his piece of flesh to sell his program, and to me, that's irresponsible journalism.
The mayor says five years later, we are still seeing noticeable impacts from the shutdown, pointing out the lingering effects on students who were confined to online learning.
That's an issue Channel 13 anchor Justin Hinton examined as we reflect on five years since COVID-19 changed all of our lives. You can watch his report here: