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The Culinary Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 casino, hotel and restaurant workers in Nevada, has spent weeks lobbying for additional protections for employees as the virus affects members, as well as their spouses and dependents. As of mid-July, more than 350 workers had been hospitalized and 22 had died.

Geoconda Argüello-Kline, the union’s Secretary-Treasurer, said the state needed to ensure companies do not prioritize profits over employee health by requiring mandatory testing and detailed plans in case of outbreaks.

Workplace protections, she said, will have wide-reaching consequences, preventing the spread of the virus both at the casinos and hotels where the Culinary’s members work and in places like supermarkets or schools that they visit.

“Companies need to know, ‘OK, we have to follow these rules to have our casinos open, to protect workers when they come into work, to protect their family when they get out,’” she said.