By DICK HUGES/Oregon Capital Bureau
Reopening of Oregon businesses will occur “gradually, carefully and incrementally,” Gov. Kate Brown said Tuesday, but she refused to say when that might happen.
“It will not be easy. It will take longer than we want,” she said.
Brown and health officials held a press conference to announce her framework “for restarting business and public life in our state – how we’re going to approach reopening Oregon” from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have to be cautious or it will backfire,” Brown said. “We know that a vaccine or an effective treatment may yet be months away. And if we move too quickly, we will see a spike in cases that could lead to an overwhelmed hospital system and unnecessary deaths.”
Geography may be one consideration for when businesses can reopen. Some rural areas have had few confirmed cases – there have been just three cases in Lincoln County, for example — and none have been reported in Baker, Gilliam, Harney, Lake and Wheeler counties.
Brown said Monday that Oregon will work with the states of Washington and California on a shared approach when to reopen their states’ economies.
Contacted later, a member of Brown’s recently formed Medical Advisory Committee said the governor was emphasizing the right approach.
“This is not going to be over soon,” said Dr. Bob Dannenhoffer, the Douglas County health officer. “So anybody who thinks that, like by May 1, everything will be back to normal, they really are not looking carefully at the data. The data would suggest that until we get a good and effective vaccine — and we don’t know when that’s going to be — life in the U.S. and life in the world is going to be radically altered.”
Dannenhoffer said physical distancing and staying home when sick would be key preventive measures for at least a year, and Oregon has been doing what it should. Oregon has one of the lowest per capita rates of coronavirus infection, he said, “Certainly better than all the states around us.”
Brown said businesspeople and health professionals would be brought together to discuss how to gradually reopen restaurants, retailers, child care, and personal services such as hair and nail salons.
“For example, this might include additional guidelines for reconfiguring the delivery of services with additional physical barriers like plexiglass dividers, or requirements for wearing PPE,” she said.
She promised “a science-driven process” based on several conditions for reopening Oregon:
- Slowing the growth of COVID-19 cases;
- Having more personal protective equipment (PPE);
- Increasing test capacity;
- Establishing a robust system for tracking who has been exposed to the coronavirus, and;
- Ensuring effective isolation and quarantine for people who test positive, including nursing home residents and homeless individuals.
The state’s latest modeling projections are that, under current conditions, COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations would remain steady through mid-May but would shoot up if those regulations were eased.
Neither Brown nor Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the state health officer, would specify a date for potentially relaxing business restrictions and social distancing requirements.
Much has yet to be determined. Brown said epidemiologists and her medical advisory committee were working on the appropriate metrics for evaluating the state’s progress.
The state does not know how much personal protective devices are needed, including having sufficient gear for physicians and dentists to resume elective surgeries and other procedures, or potentially to protect employees in personal-service jobs.
More testing capability also is needed, enabling at least 15,000 Oregonians a week to be tested, according to Sidelinger, or about 2,100 tests a day. For the past three weeks Oregon has been reporting test results for about 1,300 people a day.
Even then, not all Oregonians will be tested for COVID-19. And contact tracing of Oregonians will require a vast number of additional workers, including more epidemiologists.
The Oregon Health Authority on Tuesday reported that 32,363 people have been tested since January. Of those, 1,633 or 5 percent had tested positive. Fifty-five people with Covid-19 have died.
Also as of Tuesday, 311 patients were currently hospitalized in Oregon with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19.
The Oregon Capital Bureau in Salem is staffed by reporters from EO Media, Pamplin Media Group and the Salem Reporter and provides state government and political news to their newspapers and media around Oregon, including YachatsNews.com
