Tachi Palace reopens to guests after 2-month closure
Infrared cameras have been installed to screen visitors and hand sanitizer stations have been set up to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
LEMOORE, Calif. (KFSN) -- Tachi Palace Casino Resort officially reopened today, after being closed for more than two months.
It's the first casino in the Valley to do so.
Before you go inside the casino, an infrared camera will take a look at your body heat.
If it's high, a security guard will take your temperature using a touchless thermometer.
Masks are also required.
"There's no if and's or but's, masks are required at the property," Tachi Palace Casino Resort General Manager Michael Olujic said. "We really need to preach safety and we need to make sure our team members are safe and our guests are safe."
Olujic says sanitizing and social distancing are the other key practices Tachi Palace is implementing to keep guests and employees safe once they're inside.
They've added many new hand sanitizer stations, and Olujic says they're continuously sanitizing machines.
He says a recent third floor renovation, completed during the casino's closure, provides more space, which also keeps people safe.
"All our staff is encouraging people to stay six feet apart," Olujic said. "And if it comes where people are not socially distancing, not wearing their mask, if they're showing some visible sign of illness, we will ask them to leave."
Margaret Garcia said she liked the extra space she saw inside the casino, but she still felt a little on edge.
"I wasn't comfortable like other times," she said. "I was tense, getting ready to get out."
We caught Manuel Torres heading into the casino.
He had concerns too, but felt reassured by the new policies and procedures.
"They said they're wiping the machines down before you sit down and everything," Torres said.
Not everything is open yet.
Table games (with limitations on the number of players and plexiglass dividers) will be back within the next couple of weeks.
Bingo and the Coyote Entertainment Center will reopen later this summer.
But concerts and other events are still on hold for the foreseeable future.
For more news coverage on the coronavirus and COVID-19 go to ABC30.com/coronavirus
