3 Arizona casinos shut down again to reassess COVID-19 plan
Jun 18, 2020, 7:48 AM | Updated: 9:17 am
(AP Photo)
PHOENIX – Gila River Gaming announced Thursday it shut down three Phoenix-area casinos temporarily, as a precaution against the recent spike in coronavirus in Arizona.
Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva were closed at 2 a.m. and will stay shuttered for two weeks.
“Like our sister tribes and businesses all over Arizona, we have tried to do what is best for all, while processing new information and new guidelines about the pandemic with little in the way of definitive guidance,” Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis said in a press release.
Employees will continue to be paid, the company said.
ABC15 reported Monday that a security guard who worked at Lone Butte contracted COVID-19 and died June 11.
The casinos said they were reassessing “current safety standards” based on community feedback and the Gila River Indian Community Council.
The group said it would look again at social distancing measures, disinfecting procedures, testing protocols and masking, among other things.
Some Arizona casinos reopened mid-May, after the state’s stay-at-home order expired.