Chinatown’s The Golden Tiki Closes After Employee Tests Positive for COVID-19

Chinatown’s The Golden Tiki closed after an employee tested positive for COVID-19 over the weekend. Owner Branden Powers plans to deep clean and test all staff before reopening on Thursday.

The Golden Tiki initially reopened on Friday, June 5, after Gov. Steve Sisolak allowed bars to return to business. The bar implemented health and safety measures such as temperature checks for staff and customers, banning smoking inside the bar, spacing tables out to accommodate six feet of social distancing, and adding hand sanitizer stations for customers, going beyond the protocols required by the state. The bar required patrons to make reservations in advance as well.

The bar is just one of a handful of places in Las Vegas that closed after a staff member tested positive for COVID-19. Jing and Wolfgang Puck Players Locker at Downtown Summerlin, Guy Fieri’s Vegas Kitchen & Bar at Harrah’s Las Vegas, The Mayfair Supper Club at the Bellagio, Northside Cafe at the Sahara Las Vegas, and Beauty & Essex at the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas all had employees test positive for COVID-19.

The news at The Golden Tiki comes after the culinary union filed a lawsuit against two casino companies on the Strip. The union, which represents 60,000 employees in Las Vegas and Reno, called for heightened health and safety protocols after 19 union members or members of their families died after contracting COVID-19. Bars in Texas, Florida, Idaho, Arizona, and some populous counties California and Pennsylvania reclosed again after the number of COVID-19 cases surged in those states.

• Employees at Five Las Vegas Restaurants on and Off the Strip Test Positive for COVID-19 [ELV]

• Growing Cases of COVID-19 Lead California and Pennsylvania Counties to Again Close Bars [Eater]

• The Culinary Union Files Lawsuit Against Las Vegas Casinos Demanding Better Employee Protections [ELV]

• How Coronavirus Is Affecting Las Vegas Food and Restaurants [ELV]