MONTVILLE, Conn. — UNCASVILLE - As the community spread of COVID puts Southeastern Connecticut on red alert, FOX61 is taking the temperature of one of the region’s biggest employers. The Mohegan Sun casino.
During the state shut down, you may remember Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods reopened earlier that the Governor wanted them to. They are sovereign tribal nations, so they can do that. But now, the Governor says he thinks the casinos are doing a good job.
Despite being located in the COVID hot zone region of the state, Mohegan Sun told FOX61 they’ve identified fewer than 50 COVID cases among employees for the duration of the pandemic. After a trial run last week, they are working with Yale to establish on-site COVID testing. Jeff Hamilton, the President and General Manager of Mohegan Sun said, "We hope that we will have it over the course of the next 60 days there's still a lot of work to be done but on-site testing is something we think will be very important."
Hamilton told FOX61 their advanced security camera network established to monitor casino activity has a duel benefit, doubling as an invaluable contact tracing tool. "We know where everyone has been. We can record how close they are to someone and for him long and then identify people that they’ve come in close contact with."
Mohegan says they’ve been quick to enforce safety at their restaurants, shops, and retailers. They've closed about half a dozen at various times out of an abundance of caution. "At one of our tenant retailers we had a team member who worked in there and a close contact of theirs was positive. They were not positive. We made the decision to close that tenant operation until we could get everyone tested."
Phase three of CT’s reopening allows entertainment venues to reopen. On Friday, rival Foxwoods announced they will bring back live entertainment at 25% capacity. Mohegan is evaluating week to week. "For us, we don’t feel like at this time. You see what’s happening in the local community. We see what’s happening in the state and the Governor has come out with phase three and there is the ability to have live entertainment. That were from a pandemic perspective we believe that we can do that safely," said Hamilton.
And it’s worth mentioning that while Mohegan is putting the health of guests and team members first, .the casino’s financial health has taken a hit. Hamilton says they did better than expected during the summer months but now they are seeing revenue decline.