MORROW COUNTY — Gov. Kate Brown officially announced Oregon’s multiphase and county-specific reopening plan Thursday, and Morrow County hopes to be among the first counties to take advantage of it and begin opening nonessential businesses on May 15.

“I think the fact that we’ve had no hospitalizations in our county and our health department is ramping up its contact tracing, on top of needing to address the economic health of our county, we feel confident in entering phase one next week,” said Morrow County Commissioner Melissa Lindsay.

The county has confirmed 12 cases of COVID-19 and zero hospitalizations as of Friday, and the board of commissioners adopted a plan Wednesday for how it would like to gradually open businesses. Ultimately, the county plans to defer and not impose anything that conflicts with guidelines and restrictions provided by the state.

The three-phase plan announced by Brown on 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 includes 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.

According to the county’s plan, the region of Morrow, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Baker and Malheur counties are currently testing at a rate of 21.7 per 10,000 people per week. As access to testing improves throughout Eastern Oregon, Morrow County has directly contracted with Incite Labs to provide 40 test kits per week. Columbia River Health in Boardman has also contracted with Interpath Labs in Pendleton for testing, the plan stated.

While the state is asking counties to train and employ at least 15 contact tracers per 100,000 residents, Morrow County already has a team of nine at its disposal to track and monitor the contacts of confirmed cases. According to its plan, two tracers “are of Hispanic ethnicity and are bicultural and bilingual.”

“I think it’s a big deal,” Lindsay said. “We have a growing population in Morrow County that we need to build trust with and make sure we’re providing service to.”

Demographic data released by the county shows 10 of its 12 confirmed cases are in Boardman, which is one of the few majority Latino cities in the state.

The county is also confident in its supplies of personal protective equipment and will continue prioritizing its medical-grade equipment supplies for frontline workers and first responders. In the event of an outbreak of some degree, the county’s plan also has contingencies for mass testing of congregate living facilities and housing for homeless individuals.

The state’s framework requires counties to sit in Phase 1 for at least three weeks before evaluating next steps, and Morrow County has established a “medical case review unit” that consists of economic development officials, local health care providers, public health officials, and emergency management staff to evaluate those steps.

As counties await confirmation of their proposals from the state, those in Eastern Oregon want the reopening to happen as a region.

Following 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.”

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