Wynn Resorts Las Vegas has reported 548 positive COVID-19 cases after carrying out an extensive testing of its employees. The program was rolled out in June and has been consistently testing groups of 700 employees every two weeks.

Wynn Resorts has committed to carrying out extensive testing for its members of staff and rolling out a tracing program to help trace people who may have potentially been in contact with an infected employee, including reviewing footage and hiring a full-time team to trace contacts.

The program has been carried out with the help of the University Medical Center with the number of tested employees reaching 15,051 according to company data. Wynn Resorts’ focus has been on tracing asymptomatic employees who may be carriers, but not necessarily show any symptoms.

Some 548 cases have tested positive or a 3.6% of all tested employees. Some 51 positive cases were reported before the casino reopened on June 4. Since Wynn Resorts has been back, the number of positive infections has naturally gone up.

Some 497 people tested positive, according to company data. Wynn Resorts has hosted estimated 500,000 guests since the venue restarted operations. Only six guests have tested positive so far, the company said.

Wynn Commits a Full-Time Team to Trace Contacts

However, Wynn Resorts noted that since the company launched its “Pre-employment and Surveillance Testing Programs” there has been a significant drop in the number of infected individuals. Only 285 employees tested positive in the most recent testing round conducted on September 11, the company contended in a press release.

Wynn Resorts further stressed that 98% of employees who tested positive were infected outside of work. Wynn currently has 10 employees who are tasked with tracking and contacting employees who have tested positive.

The team is conducting interviews with infected employees and they go through security footage to establish points of contacts with guests and other people on the casino floor. Commenting on the measure, Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox had this to add:

“Our goal, by implementing our Surveillance Testing Program and establishing a robust in-house contact tracing effort, is to make Wynn Las Vegas the safest place our guests and employees can go outside of their own homes”

The Las Vegas Strip has opened hesitantly and at limited capacity. There have been significant changes in the way casinos in Nevada operate. Meanwhile, Park MGM confirmed earlier this week that it’s going smoke-free for its return on September 30.