Casinos as germ factories

[Alan Mendelson]

In another thread we have been been discussing health issues and the casino environment. I want to start off this discussion with an excerpt from another thread:

Casinos are in fact germ factories.

And I'm not buying the lack of a link between the hideous disease diabetes, and frequenting casinos and their lower-level restaurants. Controlling the disease is all about the food we eat.

Yes, casinos are germ factories with people coughing and sneezing all over chips and keys and buttons, etc. Too many times I've been in restrooms and watched players and dealers fail to wash their hands. (I even reported this once to casino management who took action and for that reason I am not going to embarrass the casino by mentioning them here -- but if it happens again I will.)

Most casino restrooms are not "smart restrooms" and require you to touch door handles even after you do wash, or to turn off the faucet with your hand after washing.

I even have a page of what I call the "best casino restrooms" and I applaud these casinos for having touch free restrooms including touch free doorways.

See: http://alanbestbuys.com/id223.html

And I also was told about a hand-motion sensor that opens and closes restroom doors. See this photo:



I've seen people sit down at slot machines and use sanitizing wipes to wipe down the keys, and the arms rests and that's not a bad idea. But casino chips are never washed (although some Los Angeles casinos have told me that poker tournament chips are sometimes washed). And if you want to visualize something really disgusting -- I saw a poker player came out of a bathroom stall with a chip in his mouth who walked back to the gaming floor without washing his hands.

Do you visit a casino and then get "casino cough" three days later?

And compounding the problem is that there are no windows, no "clean air" -- and no sunshine to kill off bacteria.

I would love to see a casino come up with a "we care about health" campaign that includes sanitizing chips, slot machines, wiping down tables and arm rests and installing 100% touch-free rest room facilities.

And please tell rest room attendants not to put towels on the sink counters for me to use after washing my hands. I don't want to pick up a towel that was left on a sink counter. I would like the towel to be dispensed from a machine after I wave my hand by it.

[arcimede$]

Alan, the point is that workplaces are no better and often much worse. I see bathrooms cleaned multiple times a day in casinos. In workplaces they are cleaned once a day at best. It's even worse in the office spaces themselves that may not get a deep cleaning for weeks or months.

Besides, our world is almost too clean in many ways. Our bodies function better when they are exposed to different germs which build up our immune systems. The world itself is quite dirty.

http://www.livescience.com/16787-ger...fographic.html

[redietz]

I think college campuses, with their international germ flavor, may have casinos beat all hollow. Daycare also.

Personally, I suspect I get sick from airline travel more than from frequenting casinos.

Rob seems fixated on "lower level restaurants." Yeah, if nobody ate at McDonald's, the world would be a better place. And yes, if we ate every day on Rodeo Drive, we'd probably all be better off. So tell us something either (a) useful or (b) that we didn't know. Las Vegas restaurants, for the most part, have better healthy selections than the average restaurants found elsewhere, whether in the midwest or major urban areas. LV coffee shops compare favorably to coffee shops anywhere. Eating every day in a coffee shop isn't a good idea -- we don't need Rob, M.D. to tell us that.

Do people visiting LV ingest more fat per day and more calories than they do at home? Probably. Just like they do when they vacation anywhere. People rarely choose vacation-time to initiate a low-fat diet.

I don't know where Rob gets the idea that advantage players all ate at The Gold Spike or The Western, but they didn't.

[Alan Mendelson]

Do people visiting LV ingest more fat per day and more calories than they do at home? Probably. Just like they do when they vacation anywhere.

Ironically I tend to lose weight after a trip to Vegas. I eat better meals -- usually a steak or grilled salmon dinner -- and I eat fewer times cutting out the snacks and the junk foods.

[redietz]

Same here, Alan. Even the mid-level buffets and coffee shops in LV have better salad choices and low-fat or sugar-free choices than other locales I've lived. As long as I stick to lo cal desserts, I'm good (the desserts do tempt me). That's why I don't perceive LV as an unhealthy place to eat -- sure, you can go bonkers on too many low-end steaks or killer desserts, but there are more healthy choices. As long as you steer clear of the Circus-Circus buffet, you're fine. Why does Rob perceive it as all sausage and sugar?

[Spock]

Me 3, and add in a lot of walking as well. I usually come home 2-3 pounds lighter than when I left.

[Alan Mendelson]

redietz glad you mentioned the sugar-free desserts. I LOOOOOVE the sugar free cheesecakes that most of the casinos have. And even though I am no longer diabetic (post pancreas transplant, thank God) I still am very careful about sugar intake. Still drink diet sodas, and frankly after 34 years of being a diabetic and not drinking regular sodas I don't think I could ever go back.

Even though food in Vegas isn't "cheap" any more, it still is an outstanding value. The high end restaurants in Vegas are still lower priced than higher end restaurants here in LA.

[Rob.Singer]

No amount of common sense will ever get thru to arci and his "most workplaces are worse than casinos". That's the desperate words of a hopeless AP who has to look to long drawn out time & life-wasting stints at filthy vp machines as his escape from the misery of life.

And yes redietz, most AP's actually DO eat at the slimy locals casino restaurants and buffets. Just take a few days to read all the posts on vpFree, and that will explain in no uncertain terms, that most AP slugs do in fact go for the "free" meals at those establishments, and react in horror whenever more points are required than expected for those sugar & fat-laden yummy "meals".

[Rob.Singer]

Whenever I go to any casino for the past 13+ years, I'm one of those who ALWAYS wipes down my machine with wet wipes, I never touch bathroom doors or faucet handles or toilet seats/flushers with my hands, and I NEVER eat at any buffets or at the cheapass locals casinos diners/cafes and always only eat at the gourmet fine dining establishments
--NEVER, EVER touching sauce or salt/pepper shakers with my bare hands, and always disinfecting my hands after ordering from germ-infested menus. How's it worked out? Well, aside from winning regularly on -EV machines almost everywhere, I've never gotten sick after any visit.

[Dan Druff]

Actually the biggest reason casinos are germ factories is because of the large number of people that come through, and the high number of common things that everyone touches (chips, machines, etc). Hygiene habits of the clientele is not a major factor.

Danger in catching communicable diseases is mostly about exposure, and secondarily about prevention.

So yes, the preventative tips in this thread are all good, but understand that any place with a lot of people touching the same things will carry a high potential to get you sick.

[Alan Mendelson]

Instead of chocolates on my pillow, and the housekeeping staff putting thongs and a robe on my bed at nighttime, I would prefer the casinos clean the keys on machines.

[Max A Million]

Whenever I go to any casino for the past 13+ years, I'm one of those who ALWAYS wipes down my machine with wet wipes, I never touch bathroom doors or faucet handles or toilet seats/flushers with my hands, and I NEVER eat at any buffets or at the cheapass locals casinos diners/cafes and always only eat at the gourmet fine dining establishments
--NEVER, EVER touching sauce or salt/pepper shakers with my bare hands, and always disinfecting my hands after ordering from germ-infested menus. How's it worked out? Well, aside from winning regularly on -EV machines almost everywhere, I've never gotten sick after any visit.

Yes, I also take these same measures concerning restrooms and restaurants. I always use paper towels to turn off the water from the faucet and to open restrooms doors when I leave. Whenever I touch restaurant menus, my hands feel filthy and I have to go wash my hands after I order. I can't believe that some people don't even wash their hands before eating. I just cringe whenever I see someone who didn't wash their hands licking their fingers while eating. Yuk!!

[Vegas_lover]

I never did any of the things Rob says and I never got sick after a casino visit either. So what was the point exactly?

I wash my hands regularly and eat gourmet meals and low-end meals. I'm not overweight and I'm not diabetic. So this is just another silly argument after one of Singer's latest piles of dog doodoo

[Alan Mendelson]

I never did any of the things Rob says and I never got sick after a casino visit either.

Maybe you were lucky? I am on anti-rejection medicines which make me susceptible to all sorts of common bugs that normal, healthy people are immune to. A common cold can be serious for me. For the first year or so after my transplants I was not allowed to eat salads -- I still can't eat sushi and probably will never be able to because of risks of food borne diseases. I have to take certain antibiotics even before going to a dentist.

But as we age, older people become susceptible to many of the same bacteria. And even healthy people have no immunity to certain viruses -- such as flu. If ever there was a breeding ground for a pandemic it's casinos. Especially Vegas casinos which attract travelers from all over the world.

[arcimede$]

Alan, although my wife takes anti-rejection medication she hasn't had a cold or the flu since her transplant 11 years ago. I guess the casinos can't be too bad.

[redietz]

I'll still argue airports are more wicked places than casinos. The people turnover just puts you at greater exposure risk.

[arcimede$]

I think the airplanes themselves are the worst places to catch diseases. The recycling of the air laden with potential viruses does great harm. Add the airplanes to the airports and then buses or taxis and you have many possible sources of disease.

[Vegas_lover]

Maybe you were lucky? I am on anti-rejection medicines which make me susceptible to all sorts of common bugs that normal, healthy people are immune to. A common cold can be serious for me.

Well considering your good friends' standard you're living a reckless life. Everytime you enter a casino you're playing Russian roulette, especially since you qualify as an AP (or close).

I just can't imagine why a "serious" discussion starts again after another Singer brain fart. I guess about 20 million people get sick in Vegas every year for touching stuff they shouldn't touch.

So I was lucky? I guess so if you want to call it luck. I call it everyday life.

[redietz]

You know, I've been thinking. Not well, mind you, but thinking. If Rob wants to post pics of himself in a speedo, I say let's go all the way. Alan should make a video. "Speedo-ing with Singer." Kinda catchy, right?

[regnis]

How much do I have to pay not to see that!!!!