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Monday, May 18, 2020

Elliot Spagat / Associated Press

Photo by Mike Damron

Above: Crowds line up at Viejas Casino & Resort on the casino's first day of reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, May 18, 2020.

One of California's largest tribal casinos reopened Monday to a large crowd as customers had their temperatures taken at the door and were ordered to wear facial coverings.

The Viejas Casino & Resort was the first of three popular casinos in the San Diego area to open this week,. At least one public health official acknowledged tribes are sovereign authorities and not subject to state and local restrictions on operating amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Every other slot machine was turned off but the strong turnout meant many customers were still playing less than six feet (1.8 meters) apart. Card dealers worked with up to three players at a table and there were no barriers separating them — also far less than six feet apart.

Customers were required to have their foreheads scanned for temperatures. Electronic signs across the casino floor told them — “Let's Play Again!” — while also instructing them to stay six feet apart, wash hands for 20 seconds, avoid touching eyes, noses and mouths and come back another day if they were feeling sick.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. But for some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

Within an hour of opening at 8 a.m., the first three floors of four-story parking garage were full at the casino, which has 2,500 slot machines in Alpine, east of San Diego.

Ronda McLauchlan, 49, of Alpine lined up at 7:30 a.m. before going to work as a painting contractor because “it's all about freedom.” She is highly critical of Gov. Gavin Newsom's orders to keep businesses closed.

“They're opening up because they don't have to listen to him,” she said.

Dedra Bloxton, 51, took the day off from working at a port in Long Beach to drive two hours from Los Angeles with a friend and play the slot machines. “There's nothing to do at home,” she said. “It feels good just to take a drive. It feels good just to be outside.”

Dr. Wilma Wooten, San Diego County’s top public health officer, last week backed off from her earlier criticism of reopening plans.

Wooten, who met with tribal leaders to discuss their plans, noted that casinos were in the third stage of California’s reopening plans and the state is only in the second stage, but she refused to say if the casinos were making a mistake.

“Tribal nations are sovereign entities,” she told reporters.

The San Diego Union-Tribune — in an editorial titled, “San Diego casinos are about to gamble with patrons’ lives” — said opening is a “high-risk public health experiment'

San Diego County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher refused to question the tribes last week.

“This is a decision that is for them to make, and there is a very long and very dark history of the country of white people, in particular, telling our Native Americans what they should and shouldn’t do,” he said. “I’m not going to be a part of continuing that into the future. I respect their sovereignty.”

Lucy Gavin, who works with the developmentally disabled and is collecting unemployment benefits because her client doesn't want her too close, came to play slots.

“Everything is getting ready to open,” she said. “I think it's a bit too soon ... We were getting tired of sitting around.”

The Sycuan Casino Resort in El Cajon opens Wednesday and the Valley View Casino & Hotel in Valley Center resumes operations Friday. Both are in San Diego County.

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Dec 21, 2020 By Amita Sharma

This is part two in a three-part series. Click here to read part one and part three.

Earlier this year, San Diego County’s tribal casinos bet big that they could reopen and still keep COVID-19 at bay.

It’s been a bad wager.

County records of community outbreaks obtained by KPBS show that at least 638 COVID-19 cases from late June through mid-December have been linked to seven area casinos.

Records show the highest numbers tied to the county’s two largest casinos, Viejas Casino & Resort and Sycuan Casino & Resort. At least 166 cases have been linked to Viejas and 155 to Sycuan, according to a KPBS analysis of the records.

While the lion’s share of cases are associated with Viejas and Sycuan, the records show no major casino being spared. They reveal 102 cases connected to Barona Resort & Casino; 91 to Jamul Casino; 57 to Harrah’s Resort Southern California; 45 to Valley View Casino & Hotel; and 22 to Pala Casino Spa & Resort.

To say that a case is linked with a location means that a person was there within two weeks of being diagnosed with COVID-19. It does not mean that the person contracted the virus at the location or infected anyone else there.

Yet, Christian Ramers, an infectious-disease doctor, says the numbers tied to the casinos are evidence of “pretty consistent ongoing transmission.”

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Video by Roland Lizarondo

“It’s very concerning that there’s ongoing transmission in these settings,” said Ramers, who heads Population Health at Family Health Centers of San Diego.

Ramers added that the transmission only helps to fuel the overall community spread.

“It's like a chain reaction,” he said. “We're not going to be able to get our hands around this epidemic when there is just this ongoing transmission.”

Health advocates are especially worried about seniors, who are some of the most avid casino patrons and especially vulnerable to severe cases of COVID-19.

How to: Use this interactive map to search for outbreak locations by place category, address, ZIP Code, date investigation was opened or outbreak numbers. Zoom in and click the dots on the map to see the name of a location, address and how many outbreaks have occurred there. For clarification, the outbreaks column displays an outbreak out of the total number of outbreaks at the same location.

Editor’s note: This interactive map and searchable database contains records obtained by KPBS of COVID-19 community outbreaks in San Diego County. When viewing these records it is important to keep in mind that just because you visited a place that had an outbreak doesn’t necessarily mean you were exposed to the virus. And it doesn't mean you can catch COVID-19 by going there now. By the county’s definition, an outbreak occurs when three or more people with COVID-19, who aren't close contacts, were known to be in a specific location during the same 14-day period. It's possible none of them caught the virus at the outbreak location. And being the site of an outbreak doesn't necessarily mean the businesses had unsafe practices. COVID-19 is a virus that spreads easily without fear or favor. KPBS is releasing the outbreak locations because transparency and public health information is vital for our community.

County officials rejected interview requests on KPBS' findings. And for months, they’ve refused to release detailed information on community outbreaks, arguing that businesses and organizations wouldn’t report them if they knew they would be public. KPBS and other news outlets sued for the records in San Diego County Superior Court but lost. The case is on appeal.

The county defines a community outbreak as three or more people with COVID-19, who aren’t close contacts, being in a specific place over the same 14-day period. However, it is important to note that just because someone may have visited a location with an outbreak, it doesn’t necessarily mean they were exposed to the virus at that location. And being the site of an outbreak doesn’t necessarily mean the business has unsafe practices.

'No outbreaks'

Tuari Bigknife, chief legal officer for Viejas Enterprises, labeled the case numbers attributed to its casino as “erroneous.”

“While it is true that since reopening, Viejas Casino & Resort has learned of some guests and team members testing positive for COVID-19, those guests and team members typically interacted with numerous other persons and places other than Viejas Casino & Resort during the potential exposure period,” Bigknife said in a written statement.

Sycuan’s Chief Administrative Officer Adam Day said the numbers may reflect a “Thanksgiving bump.” But he also sought to erase any impression that Sycuan casino was a source of community spread.

“To date since the start of the pandemic, there have been no outbreaks linked to our casino and we will continue to operate responsibly with health and safety at the forefront in all of the decisions that we make,” Day said in a written statement.

Representatives from the other tribal casinos linked to outbreaks either declined to comment or didn’t respond to interview requests.

The casinos closed when the pandemic first struck in March, but reopened in May against the wishes of state and county health officials. Tribes are sovereign entities and not bound by state and county orders.

Since resuming business, the casinos have touted new precautions. Sycuan has said it offers COVID-19 testing of guests and provides rapid tests to its workers. Viejas says it does private contact tracing for each positive case associated with the casino.

Also, all the major casinos screen guests for symptoms and require masks and social distancing. Plexiglass divides guests from workers and sanitation of commonly used areas has intensified. And some have curtailed dining and other activities as cases have surged in recent weeks.

Both Viejas and Sycuan have made it clear they have no plans to close again despite a new stay-at-home order from Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Sycuan Casino

“As a tribal government who is responsible for providing medical care, education, police protection, fire protection, etc., to our tribal members, we are an essential business,” Day wrote to KPBS. “With that said, we feel that our safety protocols are stronger than any other essential business, government or otherwise.”

Economic impact

SDSU business lecturer Miro Copic says the tribes’ position on another shutdown is not surprising given what’s at stake.

“From a purely economic perspective, shutting down for extended periods of time would be very detrimental because there is no one tribe that has a casino where its financial impact isn’t important to that tribe,” Copic said.

Copic added that the casinos are big job creators, employing more than 125,000 people statewide.

“These tribes throughout California generate over $3.5 billion in tax revenues for the state and so it's a challenge both for the state to give up that level of tax revenue and also the employment numbers,” Copic said. “It’s a very symbiotic relationship.”

Hotels Near Valley View Casino San Diego Ca

Newsom tried unsuccessfully in May to prod the state’s tribes to hold off on reopening. The state government is still trying.

“The Administration is currently engaged in government-to-government consultation with tribal enterprises located within listed areas of concern to determine the appropriate measures to take moving forward to limit the transmission of COVID-19 on tribal lands,” said the California Department of Public Health in a written response to KPBS.

Copic said he understands why California continues its efforts to persuade the casinos to shut down, especially as cases in the state now average up to 40,000 a day.

“It’s incumbent upon everybody to shut down because it’ll allow us to re-open more effectively and sooner, rather than these fits and starts,” Copic said. “But that’s both a public policy and moral issue.”

San Diego resident Tony Wolf quit his security guard job at Viejas in May because he said he didn’t feel safe with the casino’s reopening. He said he feels the tribes are putting profits over public health, and so are the players.

“It's not essential to go gamble,” Wolf said.

Listen to the Podcast Episode

Community outbreak records obtained by KPBS show a total of more than 630 cases in which people diagnosed with the disease had been at casinos within 14 days of their diagnosis.

Viejas Casino & Resort San Diego Ca

Aired: December 22, 2020 Transcript

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Listen to the Podcast Episode

Community outbreak records obtained by KPBS show a total of more than 630 cases in which people diagnosed with the disease had been at casinos within 14 days of their diagnosis. Plus: support is on the way for renters and landlords struggling from the pandemic, the first female Marine recruits will be in San Diego early next year and more ... Read more →

Aired: December 22, 2020 Transcript

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KPBS reporter Claire Trageser and investigative research assistant Katy Stegall contributed to this report.

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