Casino operator LVS donates two million masks

Two million surgical masks donated by Las Vegas Sands arrived in the US yesterday for distribution to health care providers and first responders attacking the Covid-19 crisis on the front lines.

A 767 aircraft owned by LVS chairman Sheldon Adelson was sent to Guangzhou, China, to collect the protective gear. It then dropped off one milion units in New York before arriving in Las Vegas with an additional million masks for front-line crisis response in Nevada.

“This pandemic has called on each of us to use every ability we have to help those most impacted by the crisis,” Adelson said. “Getting personal protection equipment to our health care professionals and first responders in Nevada and New York, the epicenter of this crisis, is critical to keeping those brave folks safe, while making sure they can do their jobs to aid our most vulnerable citizens.

“I am grateful we can leverage our resources to get these donations to the front lines and we send them with the best wishes of our company and team members.” In total, Sands has donated more than 2.5 million pieces of personal protection equipment to Nevada, New York, California and Massachusetts.

The company also donated 1,900 coronavirus test kits and is in the process of donating 20,000 protective suits to the state of Nevada. Sands also has made financial contributions to several hunger-relief organisations and donated 60 pallets of food and more than 55,000 bottles of water to local organisations. 

The company is currently paying each of its nearly 10,000 Las Vegas team members, along with providing full health-care benefits, while its properties remain closed.