Vegas Baby, Vegas

How the Pandemic Shortened my Las Vegas Trip

Dave Martinez

New Jersey and Las Vegas

March 11, 2020

I was so looking forward to March 11, 2020.  I am a college basketball fanatic.  Each year, a group of us attend the Big East Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden in New York City.  We spend 2-3 nights attending basketball games, happy hours, nice meals, and usually we find time for a museum.  It is my favorite vacation of the year.  It occurs right between the winter and spring track seasons, and right before the final academic push to prepare for the AP exam.  It is my perpetual Spring Break.  Once a decade we fly out to Las Vegas to be a part of Championship Week, the week of all the conference tournaments before March Madness officially starts.  2020 was a Vegas year. 

Looking back at March 11, I can hardly believe the course of the day, it is so foreign to the new normal.  I did so many things on March 11 that even today I have yet to return to. 

March 11 is the last day I carpooled to work.  I was being picked up at JP Stevens High School, the public high school of north Edison NJ, at 2:30 (end of the school day) to head over to Newark Airport.  Come to think of it, March 13 is the last day I had someone other than my wife drive me somewhere (the ride home from Newark Airport by a buddy of mine).  On March 11, I was in 4 different peoples’ cars.  I started March 11 with a curriculum meeting at Edison High School.  My wife dropped me off promptly at 7:45 for that 8 AM meeting.  She was less than thrilled that we were going ahead with the trip, though she didn’t overly voice her opinion.  The curriculum meeting lasted from 8-10:30.  We discussed a department wide mandatory research project for the sophomores and juniors in Edison Township.  Edison High School is ahead of the curve in implementing these projects, so the. EHS teachers were sharing their findings with us.  It was an atypical start to my work day.

At 10:30, I got into car #2, a friend of mine (fellow history teacher at JP Stevens and former history student of mine) drove me from Edison High School to JP Stevens.  We stopped and ate lunch indoors at The Automat Café on Oak Tree Road.  I ordered an Italian Sub.  March 11 is the last indoor lunch at a restaurant that I have experienced.  We arrived at JP Stevens around 11:45.  My afternoon classes started at 12:10.  The afternoon slate consisted of student presentations (we just started the review of the Jeffersonian time period).  These were the last in-class experiences I would have (we are currently slated to enter the hybrid school model on 10/19). 

At 2:30, I entered car #3.  One of my finance buddies who is part of our perpetual spring break picked me up in North Edison and we drove to Newark Airport, to meet up with the rest of the party and fly out to McCarren International Airport in Las Vegas Nevada.  We parked near the monorail and headed off to Terminal C.  When we met up with the rest of the party at Newark international, the four of us sat at an airport bar and had 2 rounds of big beers to start the trip.  It was at this bar, the doctor in our group provided us with covid care packs.  He packaged some medical grade wipes, hand sanitizer and a mask for each of us.  I can’t speak for the group but I thought of the covid care back as a little bit of a prop, something that is good to have, but we wouldn’t need.  2 days later we will be wiping down return flight seats with the wipes, and later that weekend, I wore the mask to the supermarket.  We discussed our Vegas plans, guessed how much money we would win, we just continued our revelry on the plane.  In fact, the airplane stewards comp’d us the last 2 rounds of IPAs, the trip was off to a good start. 

Landing around 7:30 Vegas time, we proceeded to car #3, an uber from McCarren International Airport to the Paris Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.  We were able to upgrade our rooms because of the number of trip cancellations.  We didn’t cancel, we had a doctor with us.  I believe our thoughts were, if our personal doctor thinks it’s OK to travel, then it must be all right to travel.  After checking in and dropping our bags we headed off to dinner. 

This story has a bit of foreshadowing.  We ate at an outdoor café that night at 10PM.  We sat on the Vegas Strip and had a nice French meal at Mon Ami Gabi.  The table shared a platter of pates, some mussels in a white wine butter sauce and we all had steak au poivre.  Though we were outside, the terrace was crowded. 

Following dinner, we played some table games and retired early (around 1AM Vegas time) and prepared our phone alarms to be up at 8 so we can star watching east coast basketball at 9AM.   It was after dinner, our phones started reporting basketball cancellations, though the tournament we were most concerned with was still going forward. 

March 12, when the Big East Basketball Tournament was cancelled, my group was at breakfast.  We quickly made the decision to tell another buddy to cancel his plans to meet us, and we promptly made plans to cut our trip short and return home on Friday March 13 (which was the last time I was in someone else’s car).  Also at this time, the doctor in our group became the official arbiter of what was and was not healthy behavior.  As a group we became more aware of social distancing and sanitizing.  Las Vegas has a lot of crowded places, we avoided them for the rest of our trip.  We did a lot of walking up and down the strip the rest of the day while gambling in less crowded areas and stopping for drinks at not crowded bars.  At 8PM we sat down to a nice dinner at Rao’s at Caesars.  The restaurant was half full (there is typically a need for reservations).  After dinner, the doctor retired back to the rooms and the rest of us finished the night playing craps at 2 more casinos before returning to our hotel rooms.  The next morning we started the trip back to New Jersey.       

March 11 was the last day the world was kind of normal, yet it was completely atypical.  I rode in 4 cars, I ate in 2 restaurants, I interacted with strangers (I interacted for 2 hours after dinner playing black jack and craps) and it was the last day I saw in person students.  Recently I’ve been reading a lot about the return to normal.  I think a pre-pandemic day like my 3/11 will not occur until late 2021 and perhaps 2022.  I also believe, masks, social distancing when able, and stricter standards of cleanliness will be with us forever.  I tell my students all the time, I wish they could experience pre-9/11 America, it was so much more open.  You didn’t walk through metal detectors to see a Yankee game, or take your shoes off to get on a plane.  They (the students) will understand that in the context of pre and post pandemic society. 

Interview with CH, Fellow Vegas Traveller 

CH is a doctor.  I met CH in my freshman year of high school (Fall 1988).  CH was one of the 4 friends who travelled to Las Vegas on 3/11.  Though we shared the same experiences on 3/11, our points of view are informed differently.  This interview was conducted via email (I emailed CH a series of questions).  

CH starts the interview discussing his decision making process of going forward with the trip.  CH’s office was already seeing possible Covid cases, and CH was aware of impending medical equipment shortages.  On his decision to participate in the trip, CH says the following:

“At the time I felt that the impending shut down was still a couple weeks away, so friends and I decided to go through with embarking on a long-ago planned trip to Las Vegas for NCAA basketball tournament activities. 

With significantly less cases in Nevada as compared to the NY metro area, I almost thought it may be safer away from NJ than in NJ.”

On traveling, CH had a very different point of view then me.  He was a lot more suspicious than I was of our surroundings.  We sat next to each other on the flight and caught up on our lives, families and friends.  CH made this statement:

“The flight was quiet, but if you heard a person cough, you might eye them suspiciously.”

At the time, I did not share the same concerns.  Looking back, I was very naïve. 

After check in and dinner, we did play some craps.  While I was caught in the revelry of being in Las Vegas, and because I was not as well informed as my doctor friend, I did not share the same misgivings about such a social activity as playing craps.  CH goes on to say the following:

“The craps table was still crowded, but I recall starting to feel very uncomfortable with the closeness of the patrons, in fact started to feel myself taking some steps away from the table, and using my personal hand sanitizer liberally.”

My memory of our first night in Vegas was not the same as his.  Maybe ignorance is bliss. 

My sense of a seismic shift in the county started when the Big East Tournament was cancelled mid game on 3/12.  I’m not sure what that says about me, that a cancelled basketball game snapped me into the reality that a pandemic existed.  While I was processing this shift, CH says:

“I personally started to feel a sense of panic, feeling acutely at risk for contracting the virus and bringing it back to my family and work.   I started to keep significant distance between myself and others, would use tissues to touch surfaces/doorknobs, kept to my hotel room for most of the day.”

Being a doctor, CH also started thinking about the realities of his job in the coming weeks.  While I was getting updates about school closings, CH was thinking:

“Fear grew as I read an article suggesting two-thirds of the country's population was expected to eventually contract the virus, and with a mortality rate at the time of about 2.5+%, that would equate to about > 5 million US deaths.   I scary thought.    I didn't see the same fear or panic in others.  Whether that was due to my obsession reading updates and predictions, or knowing that in the healthcare field I was more likely to be exposed to the virus, I am not sure.”

Our group recognized CH’s withdrawal.   From the cancellation of the basketball games, watching our own personal physician start practicing social distancing and constant hand sanitizing really helped inform our decision to cut the trip short.  This was further evidenced on our flight home.  CH and another in our group wore masks on the flight home.  Looking back we probably all should have.  Here is CH on the flight home:

“On the way to the airport on 3/13 I decided to wear my mask and gloves, and keep them on the entire flight home.  In the airport you would see more people wearing masks, but still only a small minority.  It would soon grow, and social isolation soon set in, weeks sooner than I had planned.”

On whether or not it was smart to go to Vegas, CH had this to say:

“Do I regret it? No, the experience was very interesting.  Not the enjoyable experience I was hoping for, but it's an experience I'll never forget. 

Would I replay it the same?  Well, considering you guys won a bunch of money at the craps table while I hid in my room, I'd say with 20/20 hindsight that I shoulda played more craps lol.” 

I agree with CH, I will always have a story about where I was and what I was doing the day the WHO declared a pandemic.   

Interview with CF, Fellow Vegas Traveller

I couldn’t stop with 1 interview, I had to do a second, again, someone who experienced the day with me.  CF works in finance, one of his particular focuses is airports and air travel.  I met CF when I met my wife (1999).  CF and his wife went to high school and college with my wife.  I joke around that I inherited CF with the marriage.  Like CH, CF’s job requires him to be extremely informed, albeit for different reasons.  I realize now that I was the least informed of the group.  CF and I have talked about this assignment a few times, we had an interview Sunday morning 3/4 via telephone.  I have chosen to paraphrase his responses, hence no quotes.    

CF started his day on 3/11 feeling a bit ill.  He attributes this to closely following the developing pandemic story.  He quickly stated that he remembered the swine and bird flu scares, and believed that Covid could be the latest iteration of these pandemics which made people sick, but did not result in a large number of deaths. 

CF was my ride to the airport.  On the way over to pick me up, CF called his brother who is in the military.  He asked his brother if there is reason to panic.  CF’s brother’s advice was to still go, but to be smart.  I did not know this, but CF was experiencing some doubts about the timing of this trip.  He had some doubts, but did not express them to the group.   Besides his brother, CF also cites the fact that one of our travelling group was a physician and since he was still participating in the trip it quieted some of his doubts.  

CF was also on heightened alert at the airport.  At the airport bar, he recalls seeing new precautions, such as increased sanitization.   CF also immediately recognized the reduced crowds (he is an airport expert). CF was also calculating in his mind the financial impacts on travel the pandemic was starting to have.  Useful firsthand knowledge for his job. 

When we arrived in Vegas, CF quickly shifted mindsets from one of risk assessment to enjoy the moment.  When looking back at that night, CF recognizes the lack of social distancing while dining and gambling that night.  When asked about the trip, CF recognizes a difference between 3/11 and 3/12 in Las Vegas, noticing more social distancing and less crowds on 3/12.  This was probably due to the fact that we did listen to the advice of our doctor.   

Asked if he would do 3/11 the same knowing what he knows today, CF says yes.  He shares that none of us tested positive at a later date and that we did not become vectors for the infection.  We did not bring the virus  back to NJ and into our homes, and that looking back as a group we were careful before careful was mandated.  I think all 4 of us share that sentiment.

A final thought:  As a high school history teacher I was following the developing pandemic story, however I was not as informed as the other participants who flew to Las Vegas with me on 3/11.  I did not know the level of unrest in the decision making process my friends struggled with.  I’m not sure what conclusion to make from my lack of concern on 3/11.  Perhaps I can place blame on the government’s slow response to the virus, perhaps I should blame myself for being selfish and placing my fun and happiness over the well-being of my family and community.  I believe the real answer is somewhere in between.

This interviews for this project took place over the weekend of 9/24-27, 2020.  CH agreed to do the interview via email.  I emailed CH a series of questions on Monday 9/21/2020 and CH responded on 9/24/2020.  The interview for CF was done via phone on Sunday 9/27/2020.  I emailed CF some questions on 9/21/2020, met with CF on 9/22/2020 in a social setting and set up an interview on 9/27/2020.     

Link to Archival Record of Vegas Baby, Vegas