As the number of Covid-19 cases in Oregon continues to rise, Chinook Winds Casino Resort has announced that it will temporarily close its doors. Over the last week, Oregon has surpassed the 2020 benchmarks when it comes to new Covid-19 cases. As the delta variant takes over and the virus continues to surge, the Lincoln City-based establishment has decided to close the casino, hotel, and golf course. At least for the time being. The decision has been made out of an abundance of caution concerning the current epidemic situation.
Will Chinook Winds Casino Close Due To The COVID-19 Delta Variant?
The Siletz Tribal Council has stated that, in the interest of public health and safety, the casino will close its doors from August 12th to 26th. The casino executives hope that they will reopen at the planned time. However, they’re monitoring the pandemic development and will adjust accordingly. Michael Fisher, the General Manager, said that the establishment has put a lot of work to avoid this situation. They have made a lot of progress in vaccination efforts. Most of the employees, their families, and the members of the community have received their doses. However, the increase in cases in the county and the state has forced them to put the public interest first and temporarily close their operations.
Locally, Lincoln County had 130 new Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks.
It’s a steep rise from 39 cases in the prior two weeks. Several other local businesses, including Newport Brewing Company, were also forced to close their doors. Plus, there is also an issue of high Covid-19 rates among the Native Americans. In Oregon, only 49.5% of the Indigenous population has received at least one vaccination dose. That still leaves 35,000 people to be vaccinated to reach the state-set benchmark of 80%. In addition, the BIPOC population has seen a disproportionately high number of Covid cases. This raises the question of vaccine equity as the rollout continues.
Fisher also noted the casino’s employees will still receive their salaries during the two-week hiatus. He added that the hopes that casino will welcome back the guests and the team members as soon as possible. They will continue to follow the advice from local, national, and global health authorities. The casino will reopen only when they are certain that they can provide a safe environment for everyone.
The temporary Chinook Winds Lincoln City Oregon Casino closure will also affect several live events the casino had planned.
This includes several standup comedy shows, a car show, and an audio competition. The Chinook Winds Lincoln City Oregon Casinohas announced that they will refund all the tickets for these and other shows. The casino will publish the information on potential rescheduling on their site and social media.
They will also refund the room fees. In addition, the casino will extend the Slot Machine and Sportsbetting vouchers. All vouchers will be valid once the facility reopens. Also, all offers and invitations will be renewed once the reopening happens. The customers who are Winner Circle members will have their membership still active. Tier status will remain unchanged and as will the point balances in their accounts.
Rich Caesar is a part time writer for the Play Slots 4 Real Money online casino reviews, gambling news and mobile casino complaints site. He grew up in Las Vegas and worked in the casino gambling business for several years. We are proud to have Rich as a part time writer on our site.
Rich Caesar
August 16, 2021
