Coronavirus Update: 31 Counties Approved for Phase 1, Guidelines for Face Covering

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House Speaker Tina Kotek

Coronavirus Update: 31 Counties Approved for Phase 1, Guidelines for Face Coverings

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Today, Governor Brown announced that 31 of Oregon’s 36 counties have been approved for Phase 1 of the state’s gradual reopening plan. Those counties can begin their reopening starting tomorrow.

Phase 1 includes limited reopening of restaurants and bars, personal services, gyms, and malls. Gatherings of up to 25 people are allowed for recreational, social, cultural, civic or faith events – with physical distancing requirements.

Approved counties will be in Phase 1 for three weeks. If a Phase 1 county does not see a significant increase in new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, and is still able to do sufficient contact tracing, they will be eligible to move to Phase 2. Oregonians living in these counties should continue wearing face coverings (more on this later), regularly washing hands, and maintaining at least six feet of physical distance from others.

  • The following 31 counties have been approved for Phase 1: Baker, Benton, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Grant, Harney, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lake, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Malheur, Morrow, Sherman, Tillamook, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco, Wheeler and Yamhill.
  • Two counties did not have their application approved: Marion and Polk.
  • Three counties have not yet applied: Clackamas, Multnomah and Washington.

You can read all county applications here.

Guidelines for businesses that can reopen under Phase 1 are available in the following links: Restaurants and Bars | Personal Services Providers | Malls | Gyms and Fitness Centers

If a particular one of these counties sees a significant spike in cases, that county may need to return to the Stay Home, Save Lives directive to prevent further spread and overwhelming our health care systems.

The remainder of counties not yet approved should continue to follow the guidelines of Stay Home, Save Lives. Even though some counties will begin gradually reopening, it is essential that we all still stay home or in our own communities as much as possible and limit travel to only essential needs.

This virus will be with us for a while and is still very much a threat. This decision is not without risk and will require Oregonians to continue acting responsibly. The work we have all put in up to this point has made our state a model for the rest of the country in terms of proper physical distancing and flattening the curve.

So, let’s keep this up! If we don’t, the consequences will be detrimental to our public health and our economy.


Guidelines for Face Coverings

Today, the Oregon Health Authority released new guidelines for how businesses and the general public should use face coverings or masks.

A business must:

  • Require employees, contractors and volunteers to wear a mask, face shield, or face covering, unless an accommodation for people with disabilities or other exemption applies.
  • Provide masks, face shields, or face coverings for employees
  • If it is a transit agency, require riders to wear face coverings and provide one for a rider that does not have one, and develop policies and procedures as described below.
  • Develop and comply with policies and procedures that provide for accommodations and exemptions from the mask or face covering requirement for employees and contractors based on:
    • State and federal disabilities laws if applicable, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) which protects people with disabilities from discrimination in employment and requires employers to engage in the interactive process for accommodations.
    • State or federal labor laws where applicable.
    • State and federal public accommodations laws that provide all persons with full and equal access to services, transportation, and facilities open to the public.
    • OHA public health guidance if applicable.
  • If customers or visitors will be required to wear a face covering, develop a policy and post clear signs about any such requirements. A policy that requires customers and visitors to wear face coverings must:
    • Provide exceptions to the policy to accommodate people with certain health conditions, or children under two years of age.
    • Take into account that places of public accommodation must make reasonable modifications to their policy to allow people with disabilities to access their services.
    • Take into account that requiring people to wear face coverings affects people differently including people of color who may have heightened concerns about racial profiling and harassment due to wearing face coverings in public.
    • Consider whether to provide face coverings for customers or visitors who do not have one.
  • Require employees and contractors to review the business’s policies and procedures related to:
    • Employee accommodations and exemptions.
    • Customer and visitor face covering requirements.

The public must:

  • When riding public transit, an individual must wear a face covering unless the individual:
    • Is under two years of age.
    • Has a medical condition that makes it hard to breathe when wearing a face covering.
    • Has a disability that prevents the individual from wearing a face covering.
  • It is strongly recommended that individuals, including children between 2 and 12 years of age, wear a face covering at all times in settings like grocery stores or pharmacies, where it is likely that physical distancing of at least six feet from other individuals outside their family unit cannot be maintained, and vulnerable people must go.
  • Because children between the ages of two and 12 years of age can have challenges wearing a face covering properly (e.g. not touching the face covering, changing the face covering if visibly soiled, risk of strangulation or suffocation, etc.) we urge that coverings be worn with the assistance and close supervision of an adult. Face coverings should never be worn by children when sleeping.

Full details from the Oregon Health Authority are available here.


The Latest News

  • Multnomah County has developed a data dashboard to show the progress it’s making toward the public health criteria required to enter Phase 1 of reopening. The dashboard is available here.
  • The Oregon Health Authority announced 67 more confirmed cases of coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 3,407 confirmed cases. The agency reported no new presumptive cases. There are 3,479 confirmed and presumptive cases combined. Sadly, there have been three more confirmed deaths, meaning 137 Oregonians have died from confirmed cases of the virus.

OHA COVID-19 Update 5-14-2020

OHA Hospital Capacity 5-14-2020

New Food Assistance Website

Many Oregonians need support accessing food right now, and there are new and expanded resources to help meet these needs. To make it easier to see what resources are available, the Oregon Department of Human Services has developed a new website to help connect Oregonians with:

  • Local school meal programs
  • Food banks and pantries
  • Meals for older community members
  • Applications for food assistance programs

You will also find downloadable flyers about Oregon’s food resources in 11 languages by going to needfood.oregon.gov.


Need Food

Oregon Health Plan -- New Information

I want to bring to your attention again the OHP/Medicaid website: Oregon Health Plan and the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). This page now has more updated information for OHP members and potential OHP members, including multiple fact sheets in several languages.


To read past newsletters, you can go to this link. For up to date information, please check this link to the Oregon Health Authority where regular updates are posted: https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ERD/Pages/News-Releases.aspx

Please email me at Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov if you have specific concerns that have not been addressed by the OHA. Our office will do all we can to help and protect all Oregonians.

Thank you for reading! We will get through this together.

We are in this together, we will get through this together: United Oregon

Best,

Tina

Tina Kotek

State Representative
House District 44
Speaker of the House

email: Rep.TinaKotek@oregonlegislature.gov I phone: 503-986-1200
address: 900 Court St NE, H-269, Salem, OR 97301
website: http://www.oregonlegislature.gov/kotek