
Oregon Set to Restart from Coronavirus Pause Next Week
Oregon Governor Kate Brown on Thursday unveiled plans to start reopening the state on May 15. The tentative lifting of a coronavirus stay-at-home order in place for seven weeks since March 23, will roll out in phases, with the initial one lasting at least 21 days.
The Governor outlined a broad set of policies that were crafted in collaboration with other states, local officials and business leaders in specific industries. Among the reopening guidelines are public health prerequisites that counties must meet to initiate the process, a new statewide face mask policy, as well as conditions individual businesses must meet.
Under the first phase of Gov. Brown’s plan to restart the state’s economy, the types of places that could reopen starting May 15 include outdoor recreation, restaurants, shopping malls, breweries, salons, and tattoo parlors. That would include standalone furniture stores, art galleries, jewelry shops and boutiques. All must adhere to physical distancing guidelines and are contingent upon their counties receiving approval to reopen.
Oregon’s 36 counties can begin to submit plans today showing they are able to meet seven public health criteria. Those include declining levels of COVID-19 hospital admissions, minimum levels of testing and contact tracing capacity, adequate hospital surge capacity, quarantine facilities and PPE; and finalized sector guidelines from the state to communicate to individual businesses.
Large gatherings will remain forbidden until an effective prevention and treatments are available. That means live sports events, concerts, theater performances, festivals and conventions aren’t permitted yet.
For comments, questions or concerns, please contact Dennis Kaiser
- ◦Economy