Kelly Kenoyer
After record-shattering spikes in COVID-19 cases across Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown held a press conference on Friday, Nov. 6, to announce new restrictions for the worst-off counties and to beg the rest of Oregon to be more careful to stop the spread.
“I’m announcing a two-week pause on social activities for counties with more than 200 cases per 100,000 over a two-week period,” Brown said, adding similar metrics for smaller counties. The move impacts five counties immediately, but five more are on the cusp, including Linn County, she said.
“We will be pulling data for the full state on Monday, but particularly for these five counties. Should they meet these metrics, they will also start a two-week pause,” she said.
At press time on Sunday, Nov. 8, Linn County had 185 new cases of COVID in the previous 14 days, or around 142 per 100,000.
That pause involves additional restrictions on businesses: restaurants in the impacted counties will need to reduce their indoor seating, and indoor recreational activities are limited to 50 people, including in gyms.
Additionally, the governor is asking businesses in the paused counties to have their workers work from home as much as possible, and in-person long-term care facilities not to accept visitors.
Finally, “Indoor social get-togethers will be limited to single households only or a maximum of six people during the pause,” Brown said. “We’ve been asking Oregonians over the past several weeks to be mindful of social gatherings, as they continue to be the main driver of social spread.”
Enforcement of these measures is limited to state agencies like OSHA and OLCC going after non-compliant businesses, Brown added.
“The consequences are the community impacts, honestly” the governor said, visibly frustrated. “That our cases are likely to continue to increase, that we’re likely to see more deaths, unfortunately, and we’re beginning to stretch our hospital capacity and staff here in the metro area.”
In a single week at the end of October, Oregon saw a 34% increase in COVID-19 cases and a jump in the case positivity rate as well. Oregon saw 160 hospitalizations that week, and has had 716 total COVID-19 deaths.
Nationwide, more than 237,000 people have died of COVID-19, which is now the third- leading cause of death in the country. Public health officials in Oregon have repeatedly said Oregon is doing better than most other states, and the data bears that out: the CDC has Oregon as the state with the fourth fewest cases per capita in the entire country throughout the course of the pandemic.
State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger said the state would compile 14 days worth of numbers on Monday and announce any other counties which will now be put on pause, but it’s already clear that any hopes for students returning to school have been shattered.
Sweet Home Supt. Tom Yahraes said Linn County is “obviously way over the 100 threshold,” the point where students will be allowed to return to school.
“It’s clear. The Oregon Department of Education put forth new guidelines and metrics last week that make students’ pathway back to in-person learning much more achievable for all students, K-12,” Yahraes said. “This revision and reduction in standards by the state health and education authorities now places greater obligations and responsibilities to local and regional communities to stop and mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Even with easing the new standards, our Linn County case counts have exceeded the allowable limits.”
He again asked residents to follow COVID safety guidelines, such as social distancing, wearing a mask, and washing their hands.
“You’ve heard me say this again and again, I know. There’s COVID fatigue, but it is absolutely worth following and repeating.”
With case counts as they are now, Yahraes said it would be at least two weeks before students could possibly return to classes in person in Linn County, under the best case scenario of stopping community spread.
“People are not doing this intentionally,” Sidelinger said of the spiking COVID cases. “People are not going out when they have symptoms or know they’ve tested positive. These are people who have no symptoms yet or won’t develop them at all.”
Sidelinger suggested that all Oregonians should try to limit their social gatherings to three or less in a two-week period as a benchmark, including those outside the paused counties.
He also had advice ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday, notably that Oregonians should avoid holiday gatherings that don’t comply with the new recommendations.
“Limit your exposure to non-household members for 14 days before visiting older relatives who are at higher risk for infection. This self-quarantine period can reduce but not eliminate risk, and that’s why we’re asking you to cancel these gatherings.
But if you decide to go forward with them, that two-week pause can help to keep your loved ones safe.”
He again emphasized the severity of the disease, noting that the death rate for coronavirus is 20 times higher than the death rate for the flu.
“We don’t want to bring COVID-19 home for the holidays and get a loved one sick,” he said.
But Public Health Director Rachael Banks said many Oregonians and businesses have worked hard to fight the spread.
“Twice now, Oregonians have stopped a surge of COVID-19 cases,” she said, pointing to peaks in spring and summer that were stalled and reversed.
“Since the start of the pandemic, Oregon has one of the lowest cases in the nation, and has remained a bright spot in the nation’s troubled COVID-19 response,” she said.
“But “as the weather worsens, as the days get shorter, as more people stay indoors and as we observe holiday seasons, we are all at greater risk.”