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Cronkite News: Gila River hotels, casinos close for two weeks after worker death
Friday, June 19, 2020
Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, far right, and Sen. Martha McSally (R-Arizona) take a tour of the Lone Butte Casino, owned and operated by the Gila River Indian Community in Chandler, Arizona, on May 22, 2020. Photo courtesy Office of Sen. Martha McSally
By Derrick Smith
PHOENIX – Gila River Hotels & Casinos has shut down for two weeks to review safety standards and disinfect properties after the COVID-19 related death last week of a security employee.
“The decision came after a careful evaluation of the growing enterprise’s current safety plan with the Gila River Indian Community Council and feedback from its community and team members,” according to a
statement
made by Gila River Hotels & Casinos.
The closure, which began Thursday, will affect all three tribal properties in metro Phoenix: Wild Horse Pass, Lone Butte and Vee Quiva.
Gila River Indian Community: COVID-19 Update from Governor Stephen Roe Lewis - June 18, 2020
The family of casino security worker Robert Washington told
azfamily.com
that he had diabetes and was uneasy returning to work in May, but he felt he had no choice because he otherwise couldn’t afford his insulin.
“He was absolutely fearful for his future,” Washington’s daughter told the station. “There was no social distancing as he explained to me, there was no active sanitation.”
All employees of Gila River Hotels & Casinos will be on paid leave during this two week period and will continue to receive employee benefits.
“Nothing is more important to our community than the well-being of our team members and guests, children, elders and families,” Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis of the Gila River Indian Community said in a
statement. “Like our sister tribes and businesses all over Arizona, we 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.”
Lewis said all of Washington’s co-workers who were in direct contact with him have tested negative for the coronavirus.
Lewis also issued an
executive order
Thursday afternoon to mandate wearing masks on community lands, and allow tribal government employees to seek paid leave for up to 60 days if they have one of the underlying health conditions that makes them more vulnerable to COVID-19.
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As of Thursday, the
Arizona Department of Health Services
reported 43,443 cases of COVID-19 and 1,271 deaths in the state. It said 517,666 tests for COVID-19 have been completed as in public and private labs in Arizona, and 7.5% of tests have come back positive for the virus.
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For more stories from Cronkite News, visit cronkitenews.azpbs.org.
Note: This story originally appeared
on Cronkite News. It is published via a Creative
Commons license. Cronkite News is produced by the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism
and Mass Communication at Arizona
State University.