Lol thank you I figured my quotation marks would give it away. I took it directly from the article Vital Vegas posted.

"All employees will wear masks when Caesars Entertainment resorts in Las Vegas eventually reopen after the coronavirus shutdown, according to a company statement.

Caesars said it will also provide masks to guests and will “strongly encourage” patrons to wear them."

Is Commerce Casino and the Bike in LA County? If so that's a huge blow to the poker community in that area.

gila river in phoenix says they will reopen on may 15, but just like practically every other room outside of texas,poker isnt included

It might not be as definite as it sounds. When I read that headline, even as someone who thinks a lot of states are moving too fast, I thought that (3 more months stay-at-home) was pretty extreme. But then in reading the article summary, I saw this:

It sounds like they're planning to keep the overarching order in place, but will continue easing restrictions, so I'd say that such an extension doesn't rule anything out. But it's been pretty clear from the start that California, and LA especially, is going to be one of the more cautious jurisdictions, so it may indeed be a long while until poker is there again.

Winstar (actually Chickasaw Nation) just announced they will remain closed until 5/29.

Smart idea.

Everybody at the table is effectively touching each other as they are touching the cards, they get reshuffled, redistributed...you are getting germs from everyone at the table, unless they are introducing a newly sanitized deck between every hand.

Could they ask everyone to wear gloves as well as masks?

Right, but you couldn't touch your phone, couldn't touch anything on your body because you would need to do a full decontamination after leaving the table...that would mean undressing a specific way, bagging your clothes and passing through a shower as you leave the poker room.

My point is that having a 6 handed game is giving the appearance of being COVID safe but in reality it isn't, because who is going to sit at a poker table for an entire evening, wearing gloves and a mask, touching only the cards and chips, never eating or drinking, never going to the toilet, etc? For a man to take a piss, he would have to remove the gloves carefully, wash his hands, take a piss, wash his hands again, put new gloves on. The casino would need to have thousands of gloves on hand.

Do you really think the average punter is going to exercise that kind of discipline?

I can already see the lockdown and isolation of the last 2 months being all for nothing. I see flights are full when they promised they would leave the middle seat empty.

Okay but by your logic why would 4 handed poker be any safer? If what you write is true then the only way to avoid contracting covid19 is to not even have any poker rooms open. Hell you can still get it with the social distancing and sanitizing measures that will be in place for slots and table games. So why even open any casinos? There will always be a little risk to get this virus no matter how much you implement health and safety measures.

Some people assume everything should be closed until it's eradicated (which might not happen possibly ever). It will forever be "too soon" and "we need to wait for a vaccine" and 6 months from now we could still be in the same predicament and they will still argue the same thing... If you go down that rabbit hole it's a no-win. The logical "hospital overflow" and "herd immunity" arguments morphed into the emotional "Just one life is worth doing this".

This was lifted from another thread. Shows graphs for each country, and as you can see the us and uk are fckd

https://www.endcoronavirus.org/

I feel like this is a key point that is missed here in the US. I guess because of our current political climate and I am curious how it plays out across the world.

Here, it seems that any new case or new death in a particular area is used by one side to illustrate that we are "opening" too soon. At the same time, I don't really hear the administration saying that we should expect new cases and new deaths. it seems like they are afraid to just say it. And it seems like the "stay closed" people don't view new deaths and new cases the same way they view them while we are "opening" the economy.

IMHO, It is hard to find anyone on either side of the argument that can be trusted. Looks like they all have agendas.

By definition, every one "on the side of an argument" has an agenda. That is in the nature of advocacy and argument. The danger comes when public health issues are colored by an "argument" or agenda in tweeting or editorializing over, say, who would be the best choice for president in 2020.

I think there ARE public health professionals whose only agenda is to promote public health, not taking sides in the 2020 elections. If you disagree, how do you view folks like Dr. Faucci ?

4 handed poker wouldn't be any safer. I never said it would be.

Slots would be a little safer but you'd be depending on low paid cleaners to be disinfecting slot machines immediately after a customer left one so that the next person wouldn't get infected.

Yes, there will always be a little risk but the poker table would be a petri dish!

I don't think everything should be closed until it's eradicated. The price would be mass famine and unrest. But don't pretend we are safe because we are sitting 1/2 meter away from each other while passing cards and chips to each other.

I don't even know why I posted. I don't think I can really articulate a position in a way that would make sense to anyone. But, since you are one of my favorite posters here, I'll try to answer that.

I probably should have said "hidden agenda" instead of just an agenda. I don't vote. I like and trust very few politicians. Probably an equal number of dems and reps. I get very turned off when I see both parties pushing bills/positions during a pandemic that have nothing to do with the pandemic itself. I'll hold off on giving examples, but it's hard to argue that neither side has tried to tack on pet projects to the relief package.

Also, this lockdown doesn't really affect me. I have serious concerns about whether it is warranted but I have been essentially locked down since March 10th. I probably lean towards the lockdown was excessive and should have been executed differently. But I have locked down and followed all suggested protocols. My family is relatively self sustained. I am only affected by the fact that I can't play poker and I can't visit my aunt and uncle. It is very likely that one or both of them will die soon. I am also concerned about the isolation and the effects it's gonna have on the children in my family. But I am still doing what I am told to do by the lockdown side.

I just can't help but think that if we had more cooperation between political parties in DC we could handle this better. I also know that they will not be nearly as affected by this as the middle and working class parts of the country.

As far as your question about Fauci, I think he is a health care official giving advice in a very difficult time. It usually makes sense to me. I do know that I can watch him speak for 20 minutes and then hear CNN interpret and pull out things he says in one way, while FOX will focus on the things he says that supports the presidents actions.

I have not looked at Fauci in any in depth way. I strongly believe however, that our health care industry is heavily influenced by lobbyists and the pharmaceutical companies. I also know many doctors that argue this same thing. Some people believe there should be a host of vaccines that should be mandatory for all citizens. Some people don't believe this. If I really was pushed on it, I'd probably say, without knowing, that Fauci is in the mandatory vaccine camp. It is possible that influences his position. That being said, he testified yesterday in a way that makes me think a vaccine is unlikely to solve this problem.

I generally think he is a good faith actor, his advice should be considered, and the powers that be need to work together to solve this crisis.

Annoyingly long, gonna try to go back to lurking...

I hope everyone stays safe...

All of the large card clubs are in LA county, but only Commerce is licensed through the county, Bike is through city of Bell Gardens, Hustler through city of Gardena, The Gardens through city of Hawaiian Gardens, etc, HP though city of Inglewood, etc.

The large card clubs have the size of small sporting events in terms of people, the county / city probably would consider these buildings so large that they would be phase 4 when sporting events can have spectators. I am reading that California will not have groups of 50 or more people in the same building until sometime in 2021. Big hit out here.

9 handed poker would probably be a petri dish. Why would 4 handed? See what I'm trying to understand from your posts is if it wasn't safe why would the gaming commission approve it? Why wouldn't the governor, the state officials ban poker rooms from reopening? I mean they aren't allowing bars and nightclubs in the casinos to reopen. They aren't allowing buffets to reopen. So why is your claim that it wouldn't be safe to play poker not jiving with the Nevada gaming commission? Don't you think if they really believed it was like you claimed a petri dish and not safe they would even allow 4 handed poker to resume?

Well both their twitter feeds show them acting like they are getting prepared to reopen by enacting new procedures and standards. You don't get any sense it's gonna be until 2021 for them to open again. I think that would be way too extreme anyways even for strict California. I'm sure they would have security outside the poker room and gaming rooms keeping people out until social distancing was safe to enter in a particular room.

I completely agree with your conclusion that there is a false sense of security when it comes to all these measures being put forth.

But I completely disagree with your supposition that surface contact is a significant, or even important, risk. Assuming one does not go about licking surfaces, then you can reduce the threat posed by surface contamination to pretty much zero by using hand sanitizer. No need for elaborate corporate sanitization efforts.

The real threat is being in proximity to someone shedding virus and having that virus enter your body through the air. And I see no reason (ie scientific research) to believe that the sorts of quasi social distancing measures being put forth will make any difference whatsoever. If you're in a room with a person shedding virus, eventually you are gong to breath the same air, and if the virus can be suspended in air long enough, and be viable long enough, then there's a chance you might become infected. I don't feel like that chance is large (we can't really know until we find out how many people are actually infected), but its a chance nonetheless.

So I remain ever convinced that the powers that be have decided that continued economic shut down is a non-option and some level of death is acceptable, so we are moving forward with re-opening while putting forth all of these "measures" in an attempt to pacify the public, and not actually accomplish anything related to stopping or slowing down the spread of the virus. And I also remain convinced that this is probably the best path forward, at least given what is known publicly about covid-19.

Absolutely. And not just in DC, but in every state, and between state and federal levels.

BTW, I'm not going to lambaste you for not voting, but I have a suggestion. Despite what you will hear in the media and from much of the public, not every politician is evil or corrupt. I bet if you tried, you could find some that are genuinely interested in improving things - if the parties disappoint you, vote for the individuals that don't. And if none make the cut, then make a statement by voting for a third party longshot, or spoil your ballot with "none of the above". Just a thought.

I think you must know that nothing will be 100% safe in terms of Covid until there is a reliable vaccine, and that of course governments don't plan to keep everything closed until then. So, they are constantly attempting to balance risk level against reopening whatever they can. Naturally 4 handed is less risky than 9 handed, but there will be disagreement as to the degree of difference, as there will be in the difference between 4 handed poker and slot machines, or bowling alleys, or movie theatres, or any other activity that isn't essential to us staying alive.