The impact of the Coronavirus pandemic continues to shake Nevada like an earthquake.

On a day of stunning virus-related developments, Gov. Steve Sisolak declared a state of emergency for Nevada on Thursday, saying he’s found the federal government’s lethargic response “infuriating.”

 “Promises must be kept and quite frankly I’m tired of waiting,” he said during a press conference in the Grant Sawyer State Office Building. He said Nevada has only 800 test kits. The feds indicated 20,000 were on the way, he said.

Asked if Las Vegas casinos might be shutting down, the governor said there were “no immediate plans” and added “they are making individual decisions.”  Sisolak said he was “very concerned about what an economic downturn will mean to Nevada,” he said.  Nevada became the 30th state to declare an emergency. The state’s response website is: https://nvhealthresponse.nv.gov.  

It was one of the wildest news days the entertainment capital has ever seen. It began with the stock market falling more than 2,000 points, the steepest decline since the 1987 “Black Friday” (the 13th) crash.  

Other virus-related rumblings:  

--Look for announcements today of major layoffs around the country in the gaming industry, along with out-of-state casino shutdowns. 

— Las Vegas sports books are reeling from a series of body blows: the NCAA basketball tournament was cancelled, the NBA season was suspended 30 days, and the NHL suspended its season indefinitely. A spy tells me he stopped in one of the most popular sports books on Thursday and it looked like a ghost town.

-- Without March Madness, Las Vegas is missing out on a month-long monster revenue source. The MGM Grand took a hit when the Pac-12 Conference tournament was among the casualties. Same for the New Orleans Arena, when the Western Athletic Conference tournament was cancelled Thursday.

--A hot topic on ESPN 1100’s “Cofield & Co.” talk-show on Thursday was when Las Vegas might land the Final Four. Atlanta will lose out this year because of Coronavirus cancellation. Steve Cofield pointed out that the Final Four sites lines up like this: 2021, Indianapolis; 2022, New Orleans; 2023, Houston; 2024, Phoenix; 2025, San Antonio; 2026, Indianapolis (again) and, most likely, Atlanta would get 2027 for missing out this year. If that schedule sticks, the soonest Las Vegas would host the Final Four would be 2028. The Super Bowl is a good bet to get here first.

 --An airline executive, in a national TV interview on Thursday, predicted the crisis will be worse than the 9-11 twin tower terror attacks that cut the industry’s revenue by 30 percent.

--Lionel Ritchie postponed this weekend’s shows (March 13-14) at the Wynn. A chunk of empty seats last week at the Colosseum (Caesars Palace) prompted headliner Rod Stewart to invite attendees to move down into the big-ticket section. Those seats were available, he said, “For obvious reasons.”

--Former “America’s Got Talent” crowd pleaser Tape Face recently received word that a nice payday overseas was cancelled. The Harrah’s headliner wasn’t exactly heartbroken over the missed paycheck. The job was in Wuhan City, in the Hubei province of China

-- the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Las Vegas free-lance writer W.G. “Willie” Ramirez will miss more than one paycheck. On Thursday he tweeted: “Just received an official email from my major source of income, and with no sports betting to write about, I’m officially out of work.” Ramirez has been a free-lancer for The Associated Press for years. He updated his bio with “Demolished by #coronavirus” and added “33-year veteran writer for hire.”

--Tropicana headliner Murray the Magician, another AGT graduate,  has a theory about what shows have the better chance to survive the Coronavirus. “The smaller shows, because they don’t have the overhead. And locals tend to support the small shows,” he said.