I just went clubbing in Vegas, where new COVID-19 mandates put 'performative masking' on full display

• I recently visited Las Vegas, where new mask mandates are in effect.
• More than once, club goers wore masks while waiting in line outside but took them off inside.
• It was the most obvious show of "performative masking" I've seen all year.

I arrived in Las Vegas on Friday, July 30 - the same day the new mask mandates went into effect in light of the recent COVID-19 surges in Clark County.

Generally, my vaccinated friends and I followed the rules: When we stepped indoors, we masked up. So did the casino dealers, restaurateurs, hotel employees, and about half of the tourists. That is, until we went into the MGM Grand's Hakkasan nightclub.

We wore masks while we waited in line outside the club for about 45 minutes. But the moment we entered, we watched everyone take their masks off. No hesitation, no ambiguity. After a year and a half of pandemic living, the scene was both alien and unexpected: Hundreds of people indoors at a Vegas nightclub, singing and dancing and having a ball without masks in the most active COVID-19 hotspot in the state.

Some of the bouncers and bartenders wore masks. Many kept their masks wrapped under their chins. I did not see safety protocols being enforced, and multiple people came up to me to say I didn't need to wear a mask (though these were not employees, they reinforced the "in the know" expectation of unmasking in the club).

Amid the recent increase in positive COVID-19 cases across the US, I was surprised the club operated at full capacity, let alone without mask enforcement. There were neither whispers of vaccine-checking nor inquiries about recent COVID-19 symptoms.

At Hakkasan, the bouncers doled out cursory pat-downs without so much of a hello, then waved us into what felt like a pre-pandemic jamboree.

Still, outside the club and throughout the casinos, there were plenty of signs telling patrons to mask up. Employees on the casino floor remained vigilant in reminding visitors to keep their mask on, too. If you were eating, drinking, or smoking you could take your mask off.

But it's Vegas. People eat, drink, or smoke all day and all night.

On Saturday night, my friends and I went to another club - the Marquee Nightclub inside the Cosmopolitan - and it was more of the same. Employees and bouncers enforced masks outside the club for those waiting in line, then everyone unmasked the moment they stepped inside.

Don't get me wrong, I had a blast at the clubs in Vegas. I felt ambivalent about the mask rules - part of me wished everyone could better adhere to the safety protocols, but part of me did enjoy the mirage of normalcy.

The two clubs I went to - Hakkasan and Marquee - were not unique in their lack of mask enforcement. Others I spoke to in Las Vegas echoed the same stories from different clubs: hundreds of people in enclosed, indoor clubs partying like there's no pandemic.

When I reached out for comments on pandemic safety protocols, neither club responded.

While I don't believe there was malice on the part of the clubs or party-goers, it certainly did not feel like we (myself included) were being as safe as we could have been. It was performative masking at its worst, as if being inside the club meant no one could see you - at least, no officials or law enforcement - so faces went uncovered.

A simple precaution that stops short of vaccination proof could have been requiring a negative COVID-19 test beforehand. Tourists who visit Vegas to party are already asked to fork up anywhere between $30 and $150 for nightclub entry, sometimes even more. Asking them to go a small step further and take a free test isn't a leap.

I did test negative for COVID-19 after Vegas, but the performative masking left me feeling anything but ready for a return to Sin City.