Despite “one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality ratesâ€
“Today, Oregon has one of the lowest COVID-19 mortality rates in the entire country,†was announced by Governor Brown in a press conference today, perhaps signaling the relaxing of shutdown regulations on society, education and commerce. Seated a little more than six feet away was Oregon Health Authority Director Pat Allen, in front of a graph entitled “Positive case counts have stabilized,†again, maybe providing some hope for those who want to open up the state. It was not to be.
Instead, the Governor doubled down on shutdowns.
“Our infection rate is still too high to get all of our kids safely back into the classrooms in most of our schools this fall. To keep students, teachers and staff safe in our schools across the state we need to see a much more rapid decline in case numbers and we need to see it quickly.
“There are basically two ways to do this.
“One option, local community leaders county officials and businesses and all Oregonians can step their efforts to implement and enforce out existing guidelines: Face coverings, physical distancing, sanitation, contact tracing and compliance with isolation and quarantine.
“The other option: We can implement further business restrictions and travel restrictions fro people entering Oregon or returning from trips outside the state.â€
In what many may regard as a thinly veiled threat, the Governor seems to be directing local enforcement to crackdown, lest she implement further business restrictions and the constitutionally dubious step of travel restrictions.
She concluded her remarks by further cheerleading local enforcement:
Local officials need to get creative about enforcing rules against large social gatherings, big house parties, pool parties, and so forth. Too many cases over this summer have come from these informal social get-togethers. I'm here to deliver a message to local elected officials, local community leaders and business leaders and to every single Oregonian. Now is the time to step up even further.
As COVID-19 outbreak statistics improve, certain local governments are starting to
go rogue and the Governor may be fighting to keep the genie in the bottle.
--Staff Reports| Post Date: 2020-08-21 11:33:05 | |
