PENDLETON — Umatilla County has been lowered from the high coronavirus risk category to moderate risk, Gov. Kate Brown announced on Tuesday, April 6, relaxing restrictions for indoor activities and commerce throughout the county as cases surge elsewhere in Oregon.

It’s the lowest risk category the county has achieved since the state started the four-tiered risk categories in December 2020.

“To be one of the counties to move down is just phenomenal,” Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock said. “Of course, we’ve got to continue now. We can’t pause very long to celebrate because we’ve just got to continue our efforts to make sure that we get vaccinated, wear our masks and distance.”

The new risk categories go into effect on Friday, April 9.

Umatilla County was one of five counties whose risk level dropped in the state’s most recent list. Meanwhile, six other counties with cases rising were placed under greater restrictions, and five more were placed under a “two-week cautionary period.”

“We still have to be cautious and we still have to be careful,” Murdock said. “We spent an awfully long time trying to figure out how to get to moderate (risk). And if we let our guard down, we could be right back at high (risk), as a lot of counties are discovering.”

Low local cases

The change allows indoor gatherings of up to eight people, and 10 people outdoors. Indoor dining is also allowed at 50% capacity, or a maximum of 100 people. Outdoor dining is limited to 150 people and establishments must close nightly by 11 p.m.

Indoor fitness and entertainment facilities can operate at 50% capacity or a maximum of 100 people. Retail stores can operate at 75% capacity. Churches can open at 50% capacity, with a maximum of 150 people indoors or 250 people outdoors.

The change comes as the county reports some of the lowest COVID-19 case counts since the pandemic began. Only 25 cases were reported in Umatilla County last week, which is the lowest total since last spring, according to Joe Fiumara, the county’s public health director.

“If you’d asked me a week ago if we were going to be here, I don’t think it would have been this soon,” he said. “We had really low (cases) last week, and that’s what allowed us to come in under” moderate risk.

Fiumara said that a number of things could be contributing to the relatively low case count, including mask wearing, social distancing and a lack of community spread. However, he added that it’s also possible the county has reached a level of immunity because so many people have contracted the virus.

Statewide surge brings concerns

In the past two weeks, average daily cases have reached the highest total statewide in seven weeks and have increased by 54%. Active hospitalizations have grown 53% in that same time frame. On Monday, April 5, the state reported 177 active hospitalizations — the highest total since February.

“We are at a critical moment in this pandemic as we face more contagious variants of COVID-19 taking hold in our communities,” Gov. Kate Brown said in a press release on April 6.

With cases surging statewide, there remains concern among county health officials that relaxing restrictions could spur a case spike, bringing the county right back where it was before.

“It’s a reminder that, while we’re heading in the right direction right now, it can turn quickly,” Fiumara said. “People need to keep with it so that we don’t end up in that mode that we’ve been before, moving backwards. We’ve been down that road before and we’re trying to avoid it.”

Murdock noted that keeping local case counts down and bringing the vaccine to county residents will be essential to ensure that major events like the Pendleton Round-Up can be held this summer.

“I’m horrified at the prospect that we won’t be in a position to have those events,” he said, adding the events will bring much-needed economic relief to the county after a year of struggle. “We can’t go two years without having them.”

The difference between officials’ latest concerns from the previous months of the pandemic, however, is the presence of vaccines. With eligibility expanding to all Oregonians on April 19, and new shipments coming to the county each week, Fiumara said he is optimistic that vaccinations can help keep Umatilla County on track.

“Every time the rates have dropped and things have relaxed there wasn’t a vaccine also being given that provided more long-term protection and ability for people to continue taking action on this,” he said. “And we do have that now. And we’re getting more and more of it.”