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Friends and Neighbors,
Governor Updates
Governor Kate Brown announced the counties that can today begin entering Phase 1 of reopening under her framework for building a safe and strong Oregon. Currently, 31 counties have been approved for reopening. Washington County remains under the Stay Home Rule Executive Order 20-12 and is not able to move into Phase 1 at this time. There are new updates regarding the statewide baseline reopening that you can find on the Governor's very informative website.
Baseline Reopening Statewide
Starting TODAY, new guidelines will take effect for ALL counties, even those NOT entering Phase 1 Reopening.
Currently open statewide:
- Grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and credit unions, and gas stations are all open.
- Restaurants are open for take-out service only.
- Stand alone retail operations are open provided they meet required safety and physical distancing guidelines. Indoor and outdoor malls are closed.
- Local outdoor recreation activities are open, including many state parks.
- Non-emergency medical care, dentist offices and veterinary care are open and operating, provided they meet required safety guidelines.
- Local cultural, civic and faith gatherings are allowed for up to 25 people provided physical distancing can be in place.
- Local social gatherings over 10 people are prohibited and those under 10 people must use physical distancing.
- Personal care services such as salons and barbers, as well as gyms, are closed.
- Child care is open under certain restrictions, with priority placements for children of health care workers, first responders, and frontline workers.
Additional Links
Washington County Updates
When will Washington County apply for Phase 1?
Washington County is working hard to meet Governor Kate Brown’s requirements to apply for partial reopening (“Phase 1”). You can read Chair Harrington's statement from May 8, 2020, where she discusses the potential timeframe for reopening Washington County. Bottom line: We hope to apply by early June, mid June at the latest.
The governor has laid out seven prerequisites. Some are measured at the county level; others are required at the health region level, which includes six counties: Washington, Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, Clatsop and Tillamook.
- Declining prevalence of COVID-19 (County)
- Minimum testing regimen (Region)
- Contact tracing system (County)
- Isolation/quarantine facilities (County)
- Finalized statewide sector guidelines (State)
- Sufficient health care capacity (Region)
- Sufficient PPE supply (Region and county have different requirements)
Washington County Reopening Criteria status page
Washington County COVID-19 Case Numbers
Interested in applying for a position as a contact tracer? The Oregon Health Authority has a contact tracing interest form on their website.
Small Business Updates
Businesses/Employers: You can also find additional information on the Workplace Guidance page on this website.
Guidelines for Face Coverings
Yesterday, the Oregon Health Authority released new guidelines for how businesses and the general public should use face coverings or masks. Full details from the Oregon Health Authority are available here.
PPE for Retailers
The Hillsboro Chamber has compiled a list of vendors that provide the PPE supplies you need to open your doors.
 Education Updates
Our high school seniors have missed out on the final months of their K-12 experience. They have worked hard to reach this point and deserve to be celebrated and honored for this accomplishment. During my 8 years on the Hillsboro School Board, graduation time was a highlight for me. To see the look of pride on the faces of the students and their families was heartwarming. If you see a sign in your neighbor’s yard, like the Hillsboro School District ones below, show your support for a job well done. Let that student know they have overcome a difficult end of their school year and will very soon have a diploma in their hands.
Oregon State Capitol
The Capitol Visitor Services team has shared great resources for virtual education experiences.
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School Lesson Plans The Capitol has a variety of resources, including online lesson plans, developed in alignment with State Board of Education standards, that may help to enhance or supplement your virtual classrooms. These lesson plans are geared toward the 4th grade curriculum, but they, and our supplemental resources, are transferrable to many age groups. Popular resources include a description of how a bill becomes a law, a 'reader theater' script for the Oregon Bottle Bill hearing, information on state seal symbolism, a Capitol quiz, and our State Capitol Discovery Guide. For a complete list of our school lesson plans, click here.
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Virtual Tour If your classroom hasn't had an opportunity to tour the Capitol, or had to cancel its upcoming tour, we are happy to offer the next best thing: a robust virtual tour, which boasts a 360-degree panoramic view of the Capitol's interior and exterior, the Capitol Mall, the Walk of Flags, the observation deck (tower platform) and more. Enjoy in-depth audio descriptions and other resources. Access on your mobile phone at OrCapitolTour.com, or on the web at OregonCapitol.com.
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Capitol You Tube Channel If you are looking for resources geared more toward young-adults, to supplement your high school or college civics classes, you may be interested in our Capitol YouTube channel. Explore our playlist of 39 Oral Histories, videos of the golden pioneer, videos of past events, archives of past Oregon State Capitol Foundation Speaker Series presentations, and much more! Links to our YouTube channel, and to other Capitol social media pages, are at the end of this letter.
Education Links
Long Term Care Facilities
The following information can be found on the DHS COVID-19 information page.
Steps DHS has Taken to Protect Long-term Care Residents
- We’re in regular contact with operators of state licensed long-term care facilities. With the spread of COVID-19 to the U.S., those discussions included emergency planning and infection control preparations.
- We also made several policy updates focused on prevention and infection control related to COVID-19 since February, including:
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February 29: Visitation restrictions initiated for nursing, assisted living and residential care facilities.
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March 9: Fully launched statewide, in-person review of infection control procedures and emergency plans for pandemic at more than 670 facilities. Press Release.
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March 10: Policy update included a new prevention protocol in which all long-term care facilities are required to report if a resident or staff member has COVID-19. In the event that a facility reports a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19, it must adopt more stringent infection control requirements under an executive order. These controls include a restriction on admission and a requirement to log their screening activity for all visitors. This practice ensures that state licensed facilities will have proactively taken appropriate infection control measures in the unfortunate event they do have an incident of COVID-19. The executive order is lifted with documentation that a suspected case or cases is negative.
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March 17: Announced that long-term care visitation limits and restrictions increased as part of a broader policy update. These limits and restrictions were applied to all long-term care settings including adult foster homes. Press Release. Updated Policy on Visitor Restrictions in Care Facilities.
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April 11: The Oregon Department of Human Services and Oregon Health Authority launched a multi-agency support team to assess the needs of long-term care facilities experiencing increased COVID-19 cases and help them access resources to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 to residents and staff. Press Release.
Facility Precautions
All long-term care facilities in Oregon are limiting visitors and taking extra steps to prevent illness.
Facilities with a staff member or resident with a reported or suspected case of COVID-19 case will post this Restriction of Admission sign at their entrance and exits. If you have questions about visitor and admission limits, please call the facility directly.
If a care facility’s resident or staff member believes they could have COVID-19 and are waiting for test results, they will practice the same restrictions as those who are caring for a resident with the virus.
The lists below identify those facilities reporting that they have either a staff member or resident with COVID-19 or a pending test.
Confirmed and Pending Cases of COVID-19
Nursing, residential care and assisted living facilities reporting that they have a staff member or resident with COVID-19 aren’t accepting new residents and have more limits on visitors. They are also taking extra precautions. We have provided lists below of these facilities so that you understand the restrictions they have in place. Facilities remain on these lists while a resident is recovering from the virus. In some cases, a resident who tested positive may no longer be at the facility. They could be at a hospital. The facility remains on the list until 14 days have passed without any residents showing symptoms of the virus. Staff members who contract the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 do not continue to work when ill.
The lists are updated twice weekly. In between updates, facilities could be removed from the lists. Please call the facility where you live, want to live or plan to visit, if you have questions.
Adult Foster Homes
To protect individuals’ privacy, we are providing general information about adult foster homes that have reported that a resident or staff member is being tested for the virus or has COVID-19. Information about the total number of adult foster homes making these reports is found below.
Adult Foster Homes COVID-19 Report - May 12, 2020
Individuals may call the adult foster home where they want to live or visit to get information on whether they are currently admitting new residents. Adult foster homes will also post signs if they are currently taking additional prevention measures because residents or staff have COVID-19 or being tested for the virus.
Additional Resources for More Detail
APD Long-term Care Provider Alerts –
Medicare Updates
Medicare COVID-19 Related Enrollment Flexibilities
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently announced it is taking further action to ensure beneficiaries have access to the critical health care coverage they need in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. CMS may provide "equitable relief" if circumstances described in section 1837(h) of the Social Security Act occur. Equitable relief may be in the form of extra time for certain eligible beneficiaries to enroll in Part B or premium-Part A, or refuse automatic Part B enrollment.
In addition, eligible beneficiaries would not be subject to a late enrollment penalty for the period between the original enrollment period and the enrollment during this extension of the enrollment period. Beneficiaries are eligible for equitable relief due to the COVID-19 pandemic if they were unable to make their Part A or Part B enrollment choice in a timely manner to file an application or enrollment election due to delays and problems of the Social Security Administration (SSA) field offices being closed.
Equitable relief is retroactive to March 17, 2020. Be sure to visit the CMS web posting for more detail.
The Senior Health Insurance Benefits Assistance program’s knowledgeable and trusted Medicare counselors are available to help answer Medicare questions for beneficiaries, caregivers, and other interested stakeholders Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. by calling 1-800-722-4134 (toll-free) and emailing shiba.oregon@oregon.gov. In addition, 1-800 Medicare (633-4227) customer service representatives are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Mental Health and Well-Being
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Make sure you are continuing to take the time to take care of yourself. Try a daily checklist like this one to help get you through the days.
Immediate Trauma and Crisis Assistance Lines
- 24-hour crisis line: Lines for Life
- Addictions and Mental Health Crisis service providers by county - Community Mental Health Programs
- Suicide Lifeline and Mental Health Crisis Line:800-273-8255 or 800-SUICIDE
- Youth-line:Call: 877-968-8491 anytime. Text: teen2teen to 839863 between 4 and 10 PM. Online chat available at OregonYouthline.org
Addiction Recovery Resources
Safety Updates
The Prevalance of Human Trafficking Heightens with the Growing Impact of COVID-19 on Vulnerable Communities
Thank you to the Research to Policy Collaboration for providing the following information.
The pandemic fuels the major drivers of human trafficking, such as poverty,
marginalization and social insecurity, for the most vulnerable, including women, children, the elderly, and undocumented workers.
- The economic stress is leading to increased vulnerability of human trafficking. The International Labor Organization estimates that 1.25 billion workers are employed in sectors identified as being at high risk for devastating layoffs. With the increasing unemployment and risk of economic recession, individuals may be forced to take exploitative jobs, with no legal or health protections. Traffickers are more likely to trap those who are especially socio-economically vulnerable or do not have legal documentation to work in the US. Awareness-raising campaigns with clear, timely and accurate information can reach everyone, in particular those in most the vulnerable and marginalized communities – foster care, runaways, migrant workers, minors and LGBTQI people.
- Minors (~25%) are especially vulnerable to child exploitation and trafficking. Demonstrating cases of familial abuse, several anti-trafficking organizations, such as Girls not Brides and Human Rights Watch, have already noted cases of familial abuse and expect a rise in child marriage and forced labor. Furthermore, the live-stream child sex abuse trade by relatives earning money per broadcast is likely to grow during this time. Policymakers could consider reinforcing efforts to reduce the demand for labor trafficking and commercial sex.
- Human traffickers often use online platforms to recruit victims. Due to COVID-19 school closures, children are spending more time online with online learning and entertainment. This heightens the risk of “grooming” – the process in which those who intend to abuse minors try to meet children.
- The economic impact of COVID-19 has likely interrupted financial support to anti-trafficking organizations that serve at-risk communities and survivors, which will disproportionately affect areas in which these organizations are the sole providers of these services. Policymakers could consider supporting comprehensive victim services and access to short-term and/ or transitional housing for those vulnerable to and survivors of trafficking, which may reduce the need for the immediate fiscal stimulus.
Remember to stay vigilant when you are out. Know how to recognize the signs of human trafficking here.
Additional Resources
District Links
Federal Delegation Links
Utilities Assistance
Food and Housing Assistance
- Governor Brown’s Executive Order 20-11: places a temporary moratorium on residential evictions for nonpayment in light of the public health emergency caused by the spread of coronavirus in Oregon. The order is effective for 90 days.
- Governor Brown's Executive Order 20-13 strengthens Governor Brown's previous ban on residential evictions, and prohibits landlords from charging tenants late fees for nonpayment of rent during the moratorium.
- Community Action.org
- Oregon Food Bank
- Meals on Wheels
Yesterday, I made more of my well-check calls to seniors receiving Meals on Wheels services. I call the same seniors every week. I spoke to one senior that was over the moon thrilled with her new purchase that she got for herself with the federal stimulus dollars. She has NEVER owned a new bed and she bought herself a new mattress, headboard and one new pillow. Her neighbor friend gave her a secondhand set of sheets and a bedspread. She told me it was so pretty, she was afraid to sleep in it that night and mess it up. ❤ I hope you are able to find some joy and love for yourself in these dark days. I hear of family connecting with each other, old college friends meeting virtually and new pets bringing love to a home. Be good to yourself and others. This is temporary and we will get through this.
Onward and Upward,
 Capitol Phone: 503-986-1430
Capitol Address: 900 Court St. NE, H-487, Salem, Oregon 97301
Email: Rep.JaneenSollman@oregonlegislature.gov
Website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/sollman
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