Silver Reef Casino says it will close for two weeks to prevent coronavirus exposure
The Silver Reef Casino and Resort will close for two weeks starting Tuesday night, March 17, amid the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Lummi Nation and the casino management announced the decision to temporarily close late Monday night, March 16, in order to prevent exposure to the respiratory illness.
The closure begins 11:59 p.m. Tuesday. Silver Reef is at 4876 Haxton Way near Ferndale.
Silver Reef will pay employees during the two week closure, according to the announcement. The casino hopes to re-open at 8 a.m. on April 1.
Owned by Lummi Nation, Silver Reef has more than 600 employees.
It said it will use the closure time for “deep cleaning.”
Officials said they had hoped to stay open to serve guests and to allow employees to continue making a living “but the circumstances have now changed.”
“We believe a temporary closure is the right thing to do,” they said.
On Tuesday, March 17, Eric Larsen, director of marketing for Silver Reef, explained to The Bellingham Herald what was meant by changed circumstances.
“With the fluidity of this unprecedented pandemic, we constantly monitored best practices and with the local, state and national guidelines given yesterday we knew this was in the best interest of the public,” Larsen said in an email.
The number of Whatcom County residents who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus remains at three. Two cases were reported last week and the third on Sunday.
None of the confirmed cases were a Lummi Nation tribal member but a Lummi Indian Business Council employee who lives in King County, but travels to Whatcom for work, tested positive for the disease, the Lummi Public Health Department said in a release on Thursday, March 12.
Last week, public health officials announced that people who were at the Silver Reef Casino Buffet on Tuesday, March 10, may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus if they were close enough to someone who had tested positive for the illness and was there during lunchtime.
There was a potential exposure to the public from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on that day.
“The global growth of this pandemic is unprecedented and the health and safety of our guests and team members are always at the forefront of our conversations,” according to a release from Larsen, director of marketing for the casino, on Monday night, March 16.
The casino also said it will extend free play and birthday offers through April.
Customers praised the decision on the casino’s Facebook page, saying that it was a tough decision but the right call.
“Love the fact that the employees are getting paid for this,” Amber Nicole Coffey wrote on Facebook.
Said Nancy Eckroth Stoll: “Appreciate the tough call. Please take care of your employees through this rough patch.”
About coronavirus
COVID-19, which stands for coronavirus disease 2019, is the name of the illness that first appeared in late 2019 in Wuhan, China, before spreading to other countries, including the U.S. It is caused by a virus named SARS-CoV-2.
The contagious disease is spread through contact between people within six feet of each other — what’s referred to as close contact — especially through coughing and sneezing that expels respiratory droplets that land in the mouths or noses of people nearby.
The CDC says it’s possible to catch COVID-19 by touching something that has the virus on it, and then touching your own face, “but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
Symptoms — cough, fever, difficulty breathing — may occur two days to two weeks after exposure. Although most of the cases have been mild, the disease is especially dangerous for the elderly and others with weaker immune systems.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 7:48 AM.
