Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman (I) got into a heated exchange with CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday over her push to reopen the city’s economy amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“You’re encouraging, I mean, hundreds of thousands of people coming there, in casinos smoking, drinking, and touching slot machines, breathing circulated air, and then returning home to states around America and countries around the world,” Cooper said. “Doesn’t that sound like a virus petri dish? I mean, how is that safe?

“No. What it sounds like you’re being an alarmist,” Goodman fired back. “I’m not. I’ve lived a long life. I grew up in the heart of Manhattan, and I know what it’s like to be with subways and on buses and crammed into elevators.”

“I’m being an alarmist?” Cooper asked.

Cooper later held up a graphic and said, “I just want to point out to our viewers. This is a restaurant.”

“Anderson, you are tough, we’re back to China,” Goodman responded. “This isn’t China. This is Las Vegas, Nevada.”

“Wow! Okay. That’s really ignorant,” Cooper responded. “This is a restaurant and the yellow circles…”

“That’s ignorant to say that we’re –” Goodman said.

“That’s an ignorant, ignorant statement,” Cooper responded.

“Wow, that’s really ignorant.” Anderson Cooper clashes with Las Vegas Mayor Goodman after she justified her wish to quickly reopen casinos, saying, “This isn’t China, this is Las Vegas,” after he showed her a graphic of how coronavirus could spread in a restaurant in China. pic.twitter.com/2iuzXJ1Mdf — Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) April 23, 2020

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