Russell

PENDLETON — Umatilla County was moved to the high risk category for COVID-19 spread on Tuesday, April 27, increasing restrictions on businesses and gatherings as cases are rising across Eastern Oregon.

At high risk, restaurants, religious establishments and fitness facilities can remain open at 25% indoor capacity. Grocery stores and other retail establishments can also remain open at 50%, according to the state.

“It drives me nuts,” Umatilla County Commissioner George Murdock said. “Here we are, and all of a sudden, poof, we’re back at high” risk.

The county had recently been placed in a “two-week caution period” after surpassing the mark of 100 cases per 100,000 people over a 14-day period, which would move it from moderate to high risk.

Now, with 114 COVID-19 cases reported over the past two weeks, Gov. Kate Brown announced that the county would move back to high risk.

The change comes as 15 Oregon counties were put back under the extreme risk category on April 27, as Brown seeks to stem the latest spike in pandemic infections.

The extreme risk level shuts down indoor dining, limits crowd sizes, caps entertainment and exercise activities, and requires most businesses to close by 11 p.m.

The new limits will go into effect on Friday, April 30, for at least two weeks.

Brown said health officials would review infection statistics each week and that no county would remain at extreme risk level for more than three weeks.

“If we don’t act now, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other health care providers in Oregon will be stretched to their limits treating severe cases of COVID-19,” Brown said.

The state is now averaging approximately 840 newly reported COVID-19 cases each day, a 57% increase over the past two weeks. The number of Oregonians hospitalized with the virus is also continuing to increase, with 328 reported on April 27, a 66% spike in the past two weeks.

Officials decry restaurant restrictions

In response to the heightened restrictions statewide, the Association of Oregon Counties and the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association sent a letter on April 27 to Brown’s office decrying the state’s move and urging the removal of state-mandated business restrictions.

The letter, signed by nearly 80 commissioners, judges and lobbyists from 26 counties, including all commissioners from Umatilla and Morrow counties, requests the state turn pandemic guidance over to county authorities. According to the letter, it’s the first time that county governments have formally aligned with the association.

“It’s just unconscionable to do this, particularly to our restaurants, over and over and over again,” Murdock said of the new restrictions.

Murdock said restaurants “have never been identified as the problem,” noting “they take incredible precautions.” He added that maintaining inventory and staffing restaurants is made especially difficult by the shifting restrictions.

“How can they keep their valued staff when they have no idea about job security?” he said. “It’s like nobody has any insight into what it’s like to run a business. I’d be saying something different if they could identify that the restaurants were the problem.”

Contact tracers have followed up on the likely sources of the county’s reported cases throughout the pandemic. Murdock, the liaison for the county’s health department, said, “I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a restaurant mentioned” by contact tracers as a source of an outbreak.

Morrow County Commissioner Don Russell said the same is true in his county.

“I think restaurants have been unnecessarily penalized by government regulation,” he said. “It’s tough to stay in business. Some of them may never come back. Even though there’s been grant money available to them, it’s not enough to make them whole. And then how do you get your employees back when they’ve been laid off for a while, and then you open back up?”

To cushion the financial blow to businesses, Brown said she is working with the Oregon Legislature on an emergency $20 million financial aid package.

With restaurants at limited capacity, Murdock said he’s concerned it will drive people to gather in environments more susceptible to infection.

“After 13 or 14 months, people want to get together,” he said. “They’re limited in going to a restaurant, so they find somewhere else to gather, and it’s usually under circumstances that are far less safe than going to a restaurant. The average home doesn’t utilize the same health and safety precautions. So we’re forcing people to have gatherings, I guess.”

County officials have said social gatherings combined with the county’s low vaccination rates are driving the case spike.

“In almost every single case, the people who are now being infected aren’t vaccinated,” Murdock said.

The county has long reported some of the lowest vaccination rates in the state. According to the Oregon Health Authority, approximately 23% of the county’s population is at least partially vaccinated, the lowest total in Oregon.

Umatilla County commissioners, along with officials from across Eastern Oregon, have previously requested the state relinquish its authority over local governments, claiming individual county governments are better suited to make decisions that best serve their communities.

“We know the local circumstances best, we know the local situation,” Murdock said. “And we think we could be boots on the ground and manage it better than having it come from the state. Plus, it’s difficult for us to keep track of the (state’s) regulations, because they change all of a sudden.”

Russell said he is confident in the ability of Morrow County’s health department to take the reins.

“It seems like local government knows the territory more than state government,” he said. “And I know Gov. Brown has a really tough job. She’s trying to protect the populous from this horrible pandemic that has covered the world. But, again, I think the hospitality industry has been picked on unnecessarily in some cases.”

— Oregon Capital Bureau reporter Gary Warner contributed to this report.