Viejas Casino Masks

Viejas Casino & Resort continues to lead the way in protecting its guests and the community by donating 100,000 face masks to the Alpine Union School District. The donation, conceived by the. The casino will close at 3:00 am through 7:00 am for deep cleaning and UVC treatment. In addition to these listed measures, you can review our full set of COVID-19 practices here: COVID-19 Updates Thank you for being the best part of Viejas, and we look forward to the opportunity of being with you again very soon. Security officials wear masks at the entrance to the Viejas Casino and Resort as it reopens Monday, May 18, 2020, in Alpine, Calif. The casino is one of several on tribal lands in Southern. Viejas Casino Opens To Capacity Crowd; Newsom Eases Restrictions - San Diego, CA - San Diego County officials reported 110 new COVID-19 cases and two more deaths on Monday, raising the totals to.

Students in the Alpine Union School District are doing distance learning through Sept. 21 because of COVID-19, but when they return to their campuses, they'll have new face masks to protect themselves.

The Viejas Tribal Council approved the donation of 100,000 masks to the district. Ryan Alvarez, production manager for Viejas Entertainment & Production, delivered several boxes filled with the masks to the district last month.

'We have placed a major emphasis on community safety during this crisis, and from our own (casino) reopening to the reopening of local schools in our area, we have been making consistent efforts to help our community members get through these unprecedented times,' said Viejas spokesman Anthony San Pietro.

Alpine Superintendent Rich Newman said Viejas representatives called the TK-8 district and asked what needs it had.

'We told them masks for our staff and students and they gave us an amazingly generous donation (which) will cover our disposable mask needs for a year,' Newman said. 'This is a big cost savings for the district. Viejas is an excellent partner in our community.'

Newman said that once campuses are open, all 1,700 students will be required to wear a face-covering unless they qualify for one of the exemptions specified in the California Department of Public Health guidelines.

Beyond face masks, Newman said the district's schools have increased safety in the classrooms, with plastic dividers at each desk for students, electrostatic cleaners, pallets of hand sanitizer, plexigass dividers in office rooms, face shields and gloves.

All of the district's 85 teachers have been teaching online classes from their classrooms, and Newman said he feels the schools are some of the safest places around because virtually no one had been on any of its five campuses in nearly five months. Custodians returned to Alpine schools in June and July, classified staff in August.

Newman said the district has a tracing system in place for restroom use, for both students and staff. The system tracks people so that if there is a known case of COVID-19 and that person used a restroom at a school, anyone who has also used that particular restroom can be notified.

Viejas Tribal Vice Chairman Victor Woods said children of tribal members attend Alpine schools, but even if they didn't, 'They're our neighbor and we're all in this together. We have to use care and consideration for one another.'

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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.

Viejas Casino Masks Game

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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