STATE
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
Brown orders smaller crowds, earlier
bar closures in bid to stifle COVID-19
Outdoor gatherings
still limited to 250
By Gary A. Warner
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
Gov. Kate Brown on July
22 ordered bars to close ear-
lier, lowered the age for mask
requirements, further limited
crowd sizes and said she may
impose travel restrictions.
Brown spoke at a morning
teleconference to lay out new
rules she said are required
because the spread of COVID-
19 in the state remains too
rapid to contain. State offi-
cials said the number of cases
of new infections was up 26%
from the week before.
“Oregon, we ventured out
onto the ice together, and that
ice has begun to crack. Before
we fall through the ice, we
need to take steps to protect
ourselves and our commu-
nity,” Brown said.
Effective Friday, July 24:
• Anyone 5 and older must
wear a mask in public indoor
spaces and outdoors where
Pamplin Media Group photo
Gov. Kate Brown increased regulations after a spike in COVID-19
cases.
social distancing is not possi-
ble. Masks are recommended
but not required for those
between 2 and 5.
• The maximum number of
people allowed inside indoor
restaurants, bars, churches,
theaters and other venues is
reduced from 250 to 100.
• Restaurants and bars in
Phase 2 counties — which
includes most of the state —
must close at 10 p.m., two
hours earlier than the current
regulations.
• Gyms must require face
masks even while customers
exercise.
In one loosening of restric-
tions, Brown announced that
outdoor visits to people in
long-term care facilities will
be allowed as long as there are
no virus cases at the facility.
Brown said the limit of 250
people at outdoor gatherings
would not be changed at this
time. The limit on 10 people
at indoor private events would
also stay the same.
Oregon officials are in dis-
cussions with neighboring
states on how to implement
possible restrictions target-
ing leisure travel from states
and other places that are “hot
spots.” Brown said any restric-
tions would not limit com-
merce or travel for business.
Brown said the state’s
watchlist of counties with
the most acute situations of
COVID-19 will be revised
within the next few days.
Some counties may go off the
list while others will be added.
More guidance for schools
on reopening was also issued
last week. Brown reiter-
ated that “many if not most”
schools will likely be teach-
ing via distance learning or
a hybrid of distance learning
and in-class instruction.
“This is not an on or off
switch,” Brown said. “This
disease is something that, for
the time being, we must learn
to live with.”
Eagle file photo
Gov. Kate Brown announced that all Oregon residents are required to wear masks or face coverings in indoor public spaces.
State will require all K-12 students
to wear face coverings in schools
State will release
another update to
fall school plan
Aug. 11
By Jackson Hogan
EO Media Group
All K-12 students in Ore-
gon will be required to wear
face coverings if they return
to classrooms this fall, accord-
ing to a new state mandate. All
school staff in K-12 schools
will also be required to wear
face coverings such as masks
or shields.
This decision, announced
Wednesday by the Ore-
gon Department of Educa-
tion, reverses the state’s pre-
vious guidelines from June,
which only recommended
that older students wear face
coverings.
The state will distribute
5 million face coverings —
donated by the Federal Emer-
gency Management Agency
— to school districts through-
out Oregon to help schools
meet this new requirement,
according to a state press
release.
Charan Cline, superinten-
dent of Redmond School Dis-
trict, said he believes the face
covering mandate is the right
call based on current medical
evidence. He also said there
will be alternate options for
families who don’t wish to
have their children wear face
masks.
“I think it’s very doable,”
Cline said of the mandate.
“Not every family will agree
with this, and I think if fam-
ilies don’t agree, we’re creat-
ing a very good K-12 distance
learning model.”
Gov. Kate Brown, in a
press conference Wednesday
morning, said that face cov-
erings will be required for all
Oregon children ages 5 and
older in public. She thanked
parents, guardians and child
care providers in advance for
helping children understand
the importance of wearing a
mask.
“Obviously, I cannot be
everywhere all at once,”
Brown said at the press con-
ference. “I am incredibly
grateful that parents are will-
ing to step up and help us with
this really important task.”
Dean Sidelinger, the state’s
chief health officer, added that
although getting students back
into classrooms this fall is a
priority, it is key to do so with
precautions.
“We know that getting kids
in front of a trained teacher
to receive quality education
can really make an impact
on those children,” he said at
the press conference. “But we
need to do it safely.”
The state will release
another update to its fall
school plan on Aug. 11, the
release stated.
A9
Oregon has ‘glimmer of
hope’ on COVID-19 trends
Sidelinger: ‘We can start to see infections
drop again if we reduce transmission’
By Gary A. Warner
For the Oregon Capital Bureau
On a day when the one-day
death toll from COVID-19 set
a new record, Oregon health
officials said some long-range
forecasting offers a “glimmer
of hope” that the rise in infec-
tions could be ebbing.
“These projections show
that we’re at a real turn-
ing point,” said Dr. Dean
Sidelinger, the state’s top
infectious disease expert.
“We can start to see infec-
tions drop again if we reduce
transmission.”
The “cautious optimism”
came on a day that the Oregon
Health Authority also issued
some stark new figures.
Oregon reported nine
deaths Friday — a new one-
day record. Deschutes County
and Umatilla County each had
two deaths. The state’s death
toll is 282. The 28 deaths in
the past week account for just
under 10% of the total since
the first death, later identi-
fied as Portland dancer Lynn
Bryan, 70, who died on March
14.
Sidelinger said deaths lag
behind reports of infections
and hospitalizations, and the
spike in cases on and imme-
diately after the July 4 holiday
means the daily death toll is
likely to climb higher.
OHA also reported 396
new cases of COVID-19 Fri-
day, bringing the total since
the first case appeared Feb. 28
to more than 16,000.
The percentage of tests that
are positive climbed over the
past week to 6.6%, up from
6.2% the week before. Health
officials have said they need
the rate to be 5% or lower to
keep the pandemic under con-
trol in Oregon.
The hopeful signs are a
slowing in the rise of cases. A
key measurement is the “r fac-
tor” — the number for how
many people each infected
person passes the virus on to.
Today, the r factor in Oregon
is 1.15.
Oregon Health Author-
ity Director Pat Allen noted a
New York Times survey that
showed more than 70% of
Oregon residents are comply-
ing with orders to wear masks
in public spaces indoors and
when unable to maintain 6 feet
of social distance outdoors.
Allen said the state would
continue to hammer the “3
Ws”: wash, wear a mask and
watch your distance from
others.
“It’s kind of a boring
theme, but by dint of repe-
tition, it is getting through,”
Allen said. “We are seeing
signs in the data that people
are paying attention.”
Allen reiterated that any
gatherings have a lower
chance of spreading the virus
if held outdoors instead of
indoors. It’s a message Allen
said will be repeated and
repeated.
Oregon currently has
enough hospital beds, inten-
sive care unit beds and venti-
lators to handle the projected
load of cases. While infec-
tions are on the rise, the larg-
est group accounting for new
Pamplin Media Group photo
State Epidemiologist Dean
Sidelinger addresses the
media during a tour of the
Oregon Health Authority’s
Area Operations Center for
the Coronavirus.
cases are age 20-29, mak-
ing up 22% of the total. They
are less likely to suffer acute
symptoms, need hospitaliza-
tion or die.
Sidelinger said an addi-
tional 10% drop in the infec-
tion rate would push the push
the r factor under 1.0, which
would mean a decline in new
daily cases.
But any let-up in follow-
ing the rules could lead to a
10% increase in infections
that would show up in more
hospitalizations and deaths.
“Cases would keep surg-
ing and we would rapidly run
out of capacity to treat people
who become seriously ill,” he
said.
Gov. Kate Brown’s cur-
rent COVID-19 state of emer-
gency order runs through
Sept. 4, the Friday before the
start of the three-day Labor
Day weekend. The Memo-
rial Day and July 4 holidays
showed spikes in cases imme-
diately afterwards.
Sidelinger said the timing
of any announcement is up
to Brown, but that the current
numbers pointed to an addi-
tional extension of the state of
emergency.
Allen said the state
expected to send out guide-
lines about possible K-12
school reopening procedures
sometime next week.
As of Friday, there have
been 4.09 million COVID-
19 cases in the United States,
with 145,060 deaths, accord-
ing to the Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity Coronavirus Resource
Center. Worldwide, there
have been over 15.6 million
cases and 636,404 deaths, the
center says.
The pandemic contin-
ues to set record numbers
nationwide. California, Texas
and Florida alone accounted
for more than 500 deaths on
Thursday.
Dr. Deborah Birx, the
White House Coronavirus
Task Force coordinator, said
the three states were having
a spike in cases unlike any-
thing since the infection swept
through New York this spring.
“What we have right now
are essentially three New
Yorks,” Birx said in an inter-
view with NBC.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the
top U.S. government expert
on infectious diseases, told
the Washington Post that
states where the virus is rap-
idly rising should reverse
their re-openings until they
can get the case loads under
control.
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