1, 2021 a new California law, Assembly Bill 685, went into effect. And if you apply that to 105 people, statistically two to three people in that room are positive at any given point.” “I can't help but think about California's positivity rate - 2% to 3% right now. “We in the poker industry, we're math people - we're statistics people,” he said. With the most recent surge, as someone who is constantly thinking about numbers, the employee said it’s hard to avoid thinking about the potential impact. That's eight people sitting at a table that's 6 feet long,” said an employee of the Graton Resort and Casino who asked to remain anonymous for fear of losing his job. “At a poker table, we're sitting seven players, plus a dealer. Sonoma County Public Health Officer Sundari Mase recently told ABC7 News the department was working with the casino to mitigate risk, 'in terms of limiting indoor capacity to 20% of what's normal, in terms of enforcing facial coverings or masks and social distancing.'īut the casino may not be adhering to that 20% capacity threshold, according to some employees who say their employer's practices make them fear for their safety.

After a public-shaming, the Sonoma County casino canceled the event last week and 'apologized for any inconvenience' in a statement online. The Graton Resort and Casino, located on tribal land in Rohnert Park, came under criticism for announcing that it would host a 4,000-person New Year's Eve party. Tribal resorts and casinos in California operate under federal law on federally protected sovereign land known as rancherias – so they're not required to comply with orders issued by Gov. As California continues to grapple with a worsening winter surge of COVID-19 cases, some businesses remain able to operate outside the purview of state shutdown orders aimed to protect public health during the pandemic.

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