Meadows, Lady Luck among last casinos shut down across state
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Mike Jurick, public safety training officer, donned a Tyvek suit Monday after a commissioners’ news conference. Jeff Yates, Washington County public safety director, said this garb would only be seen at COVID-19 drive-by testing if the medical personnel ran out of the proper masks.
Map on the side of an emergency vehicle that is part of a Region 13 fleet at the Washington County Airport
It was six down, six to go – until Monday afternoon.
The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, which oversees legalized gaming in the state, temporarily shut down the six casinos that were still operating in the state. They included Meadows Racetrack and Casino, in North Strabane Township, and Lady Luck Nemacolin, in Wharton Township, Fayette County.
PGCB instructed those facilities to complete their closures by 6 a.m. Tuesday, along with Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course, Mount Airy Casino Resort, Mohegan Sun Pocono and Presque Isle Racetrack and Casino.
“Washington County, being a fourth-class county, we do not have the authority to mandate the closures of any businesses,” said Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan.
But the commissioners advocated for a shutdown of The Meadows with the gaming board, to which the board ultimately agreed, Commissioner Nick Sherman said at a Monday afternoon news conference. It was held at the county’s new public safety building at the Washington County Airport in North and South Franklin townships, off Route 18.
He and Irey Vaughan reached out to state leaders and called the gaming board Monday morning.
“We definitely applied pressure,” Sherman said.
The board closed the state’s other six gaming sites over the weekend: Rivers Pittsburgh, Rivers Philadelphia, Valley Forge Casino and Resort, Harrah’s Philadelphia, Parx Casino’s Wind Creek Bethlehem.
Irey Vaughan said she and her colleagues have also fielded many questions about why no state of emergency has been declared in Washington County since the case of coronavirus was identified in county.
Declaring a state of emergency requires three criteria, Irey Vaughan explained:
“One would be if funding would hinge on this declaration. We have been informed that it would not.
“Two would be if we have confirmation that this disease had been contracted and was spreading in Washington County. We have no confirmation of that.
“And three would be if our health and human services support systems are overwhelmed. They are not.”
The commissioners have been besieged by phone calls and Facebook inquiries from people who want to know whether the person who tested positive in Washington County for the novel coronavirus might be a neighbor. Pennsylvania is releasing less information than other states about COVID-19, and the state Department of Health has cited a 1955 confidentiality law that was designed to protect those suffering from syphilis and typhoid.
“That is a conversation we had with Sen. (Camera) Bartolotta (R-Carroll Township) on Saturday, and she’s working to resolve that issue so we can receive more information,” Irey Vaughan said.
The new public safety and command center at the airport serves as a hub for Region 13, which encompasses 13 counties in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Penn National Gaming Inc. owns The Meadows and Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course. Jay Snowden, president and chief executive officer, said Penn National plans to pay “the wages and benefits” of its 2,100 Pennsylvania employees “through the end of March. In addition, we’ll be donating perishable food items to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, Washington County Food Bank and other local organizations.”