On Friday, November 6, 2020, Governor Kate Brown announced new measures for social activities to stop the spread of COVID-19 in certain Oregon counties where cases are on the rise.
The measures are effective from November 11 through November 25, for Jackson, Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, and Umatilla counties. The Governor said the measures will be instituted in counties with a case rate above 200 per 100,000 people over a two-week period, or more than 60 cases over a two-week period for counties with less than 30,000 people. These measures replace the County Watch List process that started in July.
The measures, called the Two-Week Pause, include the following:
- Urging all businesses to mandate work from home to the greatest extent possible.
- Pausing long-term care facility visits that take place indoors to protect staff and residents.
- Reducing maximum restaurant capacity to 50 people (including customers and staff) for indoor dining, with a maximum party size of six. Continuing to encourage outdoor dining and take out.
- Reducing the maximum capacity of other indoor activities to 50 people (includes gyms, fitness organizations/studios, bowling alleys, ice rinks, indoor sports, pools, and museums).
- Limiting social gatherings to your household, or no more than six people if the gathering includes those from outside your household, reducing the frequency of those social gatherings, and keeping the same six people in your social gathering circle.
The press release indicated that COVID-19 infection rates in several other counties (Washington, Baker, Union, Clackamas, and Linn) will be reviewed by the Oregon Health Authority to determine if they will be advised to participate in the two-week pause measures.
Oregon businesses in Jackson, Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, and Umatilla counties should review their current work from home strategies to determine if they can direct additional employees to work from home during the two-week pause period.
Full details of the Governor’s press conference and these measures can be found here.
UPDATE 11/11/20:
Governor Brown has added several counties to the list of those required to participate in the Two-Week Pause beginning November 11 through November 25.
The following counties are included in the two-week pause:
- Baker
- Clackamas
- Jackson
- Malheur
- Marion
- Multnomah
- Umatilla
- Union
- Washington