Sonoma County officials said Graton Resort and Casino plans to host an indoor New Year’s Eve party with 4,000 guests on Dec. 31 as county and state face COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths -19.
Graton, located on tribal land in Rohnert Park, does not fall under the regional order of stay at home in California, as the tribal governments and operating casinos are exempt from state regulation as sovereign regions.
“Obviously, it would be our preference not to have a party with 4,000 people inside,” said Paul Gullixson, head of public information for Sonoma County. “But we have no jurisdiction over it.”
He added that county officials are in touch with Graton and are helping to provide some guidance for the planned party, which is billed as a private event on the casino’s website.
“They are planning to do things with the mitigation measures they can,” said Dr. Sundari Mase, Sonoma County Health Officer, “they made several changes to try to ensure safety.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order to close indoor entertainment venues that covers almost all of California does not include the state’s 62 tribal casinos. The three tribal casinos in the Bay Area, Graton Resort and Casino, Lytton Casino San Pablo and River Rock Casino in Geyserville, are open.
“The casino has been open all along,” Mase said, adding that some of the mitigation measures discussed by Graton include “limiting its indoor capacity to 20% of what is normal, in terms of applying coatings or facial masks as well as social distancing “. ”
Tribal casinos don’t have to follow state health regulations, but they all require masks, have removed the seats from the tables, and turned off some slot machines. They also require temperature controls for entry.
In response to a question about the New Year’s Eve event, tribal president Greg Sarris said in a statement in the Chronicle that “the federated Indians of Graton Rancheria continue to work closely with the public health officer of Sonoma County “.
He added: “Graton Resort & Casino will remain limited and continue to exceed all CDC security requirements. In addition to these security measures, team members test for COVID-19 every two weeks and carry digital devices that ensure social distancing. The bars will remain closed and the alcohol service on foot will end every night at 21:00 ”.
He didn’t specifically address the New Year’s Eve party.
California casinos closed voluntarily in March following the order to stay at Newsom’s home. They began to reopen in mid-May even though the governor asked them to delay opening the doors.
California card rooms, which are part of the stop order, have said the discrepancy is unfair and have called on the governor to close casinos as a danger to public health.
Sonoma County has been making an average of about 300 cases a day last week, which is more than San Francisco – which has nearly twice as many residents – and three times as many as the county reported a month ago.
The county has seen 17,208 confirmed confirmed cases of COVID-19, representing approximately 3.38% of its population and 180 confirmed deaths. It reported 203 new cases and three deaths on Wednesday.
Michael Cabanatuan and Erin Allday contributed to this report.
Aidin Vaziri is a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected]