EASTERN OREGON — Following Gov. Kate Brown’s official announcement of the state’s reopening framework, a group of Eastern Oregon counties sent a letter Thursday afternoon urging that she accept their plans to enter Phase 1 on May 15 “with no rural or frontier county left behind.” 

The letter was signed by 27 commissioners from 10 different counties, including all three Umatilla County Commissioners, and states that most Eastern Oregon counties will have submitted “extensive reopening plans” by Friday. 

“These plans have been rewritten or resubmitted the past two weeks with additional information to change the ever changing criteria,” the letter states. “These plans have been worked on with the local health authorities, hospital districts, businesses and County governments; and County Commissions and County Courts have approved them.” 

The three-phase plan announced by Brown Thursday allows businesses, personal service providers and retailers to reopen on a conditional basis county by county, with specific guidelines for each business sector. 

The first phase would include restaurants and bars being allowed to serve patrons on-site with tables 6 feet apart, employees wearing face coverings and business closing down by 10 p.m. Fitness centers, salons, and standalone retail shops would also be able to reopen with new protocols. 

In order to enter the first phase, counties must show a 14-day decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and emergency room visits for the virus that are lower than are typical for influenza. The counties must also demonstrate the testing, tracing, protective equipment and hospital capacity to respond to new confirmed cases. 

Commissioners from Baker, Deschutes, Grant, Harney, Klamath, Lake, Malheur, Umatilla, Union and Wallowa counties each signed the letter.