The employee worked in a confined area of the casino at the Pendleton, Ore. property and was not interacting with customers, but the Umatilla Tribe that owns Wildhorse canceled all hotel reservations and community events to conduct a deep-cleaning process, as part of the first closing in its 25-year history. Reopening is expected on March 10^th. The employee had the third reported case of COVID-19 in Oregon.

Wildhorse Resort and Casino in Pendleton, Ore. closed for the first time in its 25-year history as a precaution stemming from the “presumptive positive” test result of one of its employees for coronavirus (COVID-19), the East Oregonian of Pendleton reported. All hotel reservations and community events at the tribal casino have been canceled.

The employee is an adult male and has been transported to a hospital in Walla Walla, Wash., the East Oregonian reported. The casino resort is going through a deep-cleaning process and was expected to reopen on Tuesday, March 10^th.

According to a spokesperson for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the employee worked in a confined area of the casino and was not interacting with customers, Card Player magazine reported.

The Wildhorse property includes an 18-hole golf course designed by John Steidel.

As a precaution, the tribes’ Board of Trustees also ordered the closing of its Nixyaawii Community School, Head Start, Daycare and Senior Center until all facilities have been fully sanitized, and also canceled all events on the Umatilla Indian Reservation for the week.

The Wild Horse employee had the third reported case of coronavirus in Oregon, with the first two in the Portland metropolitan area. All six reported deaths from the coronavirus in the United States have been in the neighboring state of Washington.

The East Oregonian reported that the casino worker had attended a youth basketball game in the gymnasium of a middle school in Weston, Ore., and that gym has been closed for deep cleaning, with health officials now trying to determine how many other people had come into close contact with the victim either there or in other locations.

Under the guidelines of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, other spectators who may have been in a closed environment with the individual would be considered “low-risk” exposures, the East Oregonian reprted.

The Superintendent of the school district said the man didn’t have children in the district and that the game at the middle school was not affiliated with any of the district’s sports teams. “We don’t have kids with any symptoms,” she told the Walla Walla Union-Bulletin. “We know what to look for, and we have been in close contact with Oregon Health Authority.”