Approval for county reopening applications paused

Governor Brown responded to Oregon’s significant increase in COVID-19 infections by pausing Multnomah County’s application for reopening, as well as other county applications for entering Phase 2.

She said to think of it as a “yellow light” that will “give public health experts time to assess what factors are driving the spread of the virus.”

Multnomah County had applied for Phase 1 reopening today. Hood River, Marion and Polk counties also had applied for Phase 2, but Oregon has seen an increase in COVID-19 infections throughout the state.

Governor Brown held a press conference today to address this decision.

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Federal judge denies court challenge to Governor Brown’s stay at home orders

The Oregon Supreme Court today vacated a ruling by a Baker County judge that attempted to temporarily block Governor Brown’s stay-at-home executive orders relating to COVID-19. The orders stay in effect as a result of the ruling.

In this opinion, Judge Matthew B. Shirtcliff states that the plaintiffs argued that the executive orders had expired, but the court concluded that the circuit court had erred when it determined that the governor’s executive orders had violated the 28-day statutory time limit.

“The Governor issued the orders pursuant to ORS chapter 401, which authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency that continues until it is terminated either by the Governor or the Legislative Assembly,” the court wrote.

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Mental health resources

We know that this is a complicated time and wanted to remind you that help is available. OHA’s COVID-19 website includes behavioral health resources. We have also recently added a section on resources for veterans:

  • ODVA’s Veteran Navigator: A comprehensive hub site for resources for veterans, military service members, and their families
  • Oregon Military Helpline: Free and confidential crisis intervention and sensitivity to military-specific issues
  • VA Crisis Line: Connect with caring, qualified responders with the Department of Veterans Affairs
  • MakeTheConnection.net: Connects veterans, their family members and friends, and other supporters with mental health information, local resources and veterans’ own stories of recovery
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OHA releases updated modeling report

Today, OHA released its updated modeling report, showing the projections for the COVID-19 progression in Oregon. With limited data since reopening, counties being reopened at different times and recent increases in cases, the report provides three different scenarios.  In all scenarios, however, recent data and model calibration show transmission has increased since reopening began on May 15.

  • The most optimistic scenario the model assumes a 10-percentage-point increase in transmission after reopening on May 15. It shows the number of new infections per day would remain relatively stable over the next month.
  • The less optimistic scenario the model assumes a slightly larger increase in transmission (15 percentage points) after May 15, which fit the recent observed hospitalization and diagnoses trends better. It shows the number of new infections per day will gradually increase over the next month (approximately 170 additional new infections per day).
  • The most pessimistic scenario the model assumes a 15-percentage-point increase in transmission after May 15 plus an additional 10-percentage-point increase in transmission after May 25. Under this scenario, the number of new infections per day will increase more dramatically. Compared to the most optimistic scenario, this model projects about 14,000 more cumulative infections, 925 more new infections per day, and 17 more new severe cases per day by July 3.

OHA uses this modeling for data analysis and planning purposes and releases it on a bi-weekly basis.