Kelly Kenoyer
Local businesses and organizations are adjusting to new requirements set down by Gov. Kate Brown Friday, Nov. 13 who announced a “freeze” in social activity due to concerns about surging coronavirus case numbers in Oregon.
The announcement came as COVID-19 topped 1,000 daily cases for the entire weekend, starting Friday, and as the Portland Metro Area ran low on ICU beds, with just 15 left unoccupied in the entire area. Brown said hospitals across the state are struggling too.
“Like it or not, we are likely to be facing the worst surge we’ve seen in the pandemic.”
State Epidemiologist Dean Sidelinger said the rise in cases coinciding with full hospitals is a sobering sign.
“Hospitalizations are a lagging indicator. Today’s hospitalizations reflect the cases from one or two weeks ago, when our cases were significantly lower. So if our cases continue to rise, we will continue to see an increase in people needing to be hospitalized.”
He said infections are rising almost uncontrolled, with an infection rate of 1.5. That means every person infected goes on to infect more than one other person. It was a record-breaking week for Oregon’s weekly cases, with 46 percent more cases compared to the previous, also record-breaking week.
“This is likely the most dangerous time here in Oregon,” Sidelinger said. “We have never faced the possibility that our hospitals could be overwhelmed across the state, and that people may not be able to get the high quality of care we all deserve.”
OHSU announced that some elective surgeries are on hold because of the rising cases. Emergency Physician Esther Choo pleaded for Oregonians to stay home.
“For healthcare workers on the front lines, staying home to save lives is much more than just a slogan,” she said.
Choo said Oregon has had the benefit of “well-supplied and fully staffed hospitals” throughout the pandemic, compared to understaffed, under-resourced and stressed hospitals in other areas of the country.
“The difference between those two circumstances is quite literally life and death.”
As she spoke about the isolation of her patients who come to the ICU with COVID-19, Choo’s voice broke. “They’re isolated right when they need support and company and love the most,” she said, tears springing to her eyes.
“Right now, we’re asking you to be our heroes and answer our call for help again. We have the opportunity now to save hundreds or thousands of Oregonians from any more of these painful last goodbyes.”
Brown said hospitals are close to being overwhelmed, and that other states wouldn’t be able to share capacity because they are all undergoing similar surges in COVID-19.
“The next time you need medical care, the last thing you want to hear is that the ambulance has no place to go,” she said.
The pause itself is a two-week freeze for the entire state, starting Wednesday, Nov. 18. It limits in-person social gatherings to six or two households. Churches are limited to 25 people indoors or 50 outdoors.
Other restrictions include:
– Indoor recreational facilities, like museums, pools and sports courts, are closed, along with outdoor facilities like gardens and venues.
– Grocery stores, retail stores, malls and pharmacies are limited to 75% capacity.
– Indoor visitation at long-term care facilities is prohibited.
– Restaurants and bars are take-out only.
– Gyms and fitness organizations will be closed.
– Businesses are required to implement work at home as much as possible.
– Oregonians are asked to wear masks at all times except when eating or drinking, whether they are indoors or outdoors.
The orders are enforced by the OLCC and OSHA, and Brown said she is asking Oregon State Police to work with local agencies to enforce limits on social gatherings.
“Law enforcement has the discretion to enforce these. They are class C misdemeanors,” she said, and fines and arrests are possible.
The freeze is in place for two weeks, from Nov. 18 to Dec. 2. Brown said the Thanksgiving holiday will fall within that time frame, and said her own Thanksgiving plans have changed as a result.
“Dan, myself, and my new puppy Jorry will invite over one other household,” she said. “We’ll all wear masks except when we are eating and drinking.”
“I know it doesn’t look like the Thanksgiving holiday we’ve all been planning for weeks, and I know it’s really really hard, but unfortunately, it’s a necessity right now.”
Sidelinger said the holidays would be disappointing but said “this Thanksgiving is not the last Thanksgiving.”
“Let’s celebrate Thanksgiving with members of our household, so next year in 2021 we can come back and say, ‘remember how awful Thanksgiving was in 2020? It’s so good that we get to get together now because we did such a good job containing the virus.'”
Brown also addressed the pain local businesses will feel from this shutdown, and said some may close as a result. She asked Oregonians to support local businesses by shopping locally and ordering take-out during the pause.
Brown said she wrote a letter to Congress to say “our businesses across the state need additional financial assistance.”
She asked the federal government to extend programs like the Paycheck Protection Program and by providing grants to restaurants, and specifically asked for bipartisanship in Congress to pass a relief bill that will again provide $600 a week.
Dave Bauer, owner of Steelhead Fitness, isn’t sure his business can survive past March without any additional help from the government.
“What’s left are loans. If you take out a loan you extend out the burden into a weak economy after we re-open,” he said.
Bauer indicated he isn’t convinced the freeze will actually end in two weeks, as current projections from the state involve high case numbers for at least two weeks. And the longer the pause goes on, the longer he runs without sufficient income.
“The income we have right now — we only have half of our membership base, so it hasn’t been enough to pay the whole bill,” he said.
Still, he doesn’t expect Brown to provide grants for him.
“I don’t know where Oregon would get the money to pay these businesses that they’ve closed,” he said.
Instead, he hopes to see grants from the federal government, or for his mortgage payments to be forgiven as they were at the beginning of the pandemic. That’s the kind of assistance that would help him, especially since PPP loans are aimed at helping employees, not employers.
“PPP is only good if you’re open and you have employees and can justify having staff to pay them,” he said.
Brown credited Rep. Earl Blumenauer for his efforts to pass a financial aid package specifically aimed at restaurants, though she didn’t mention impacts on gyms.
“I know this is really hard on our small businesses, especially our iconic local businesses, but we have no choice,” Brown said.
“I am asking everyone to take action now. It is not too late to make a difference, to make a collective sacrifice to preserve our hospitals’ bed capacity, to ensure our hospital and healthcare workers can continue to serve Oregonians who are in need of medical services.”