Governor Brown announced a two-week “pause” on social activities in five Oregon counties in an attempt to slow the rapid spread of COVID-19.
“We’ve been asking Oregonians over the past several weeks to be mindful of social gatherings as they continue to be the main culprit of community spread in Oregon," says Brown. "The data is proving that not all Oregonians are listening.”
The pause is scheduled to begin on Wednesday and end the day before Thanksgiving.
“Oregonians have made incredibly difficult and tremendous sacrifices to help each other throughout this pandemic, which is why Oregon has done relatively better than many other states on containing the virus, says Brown. "But we can not let up now. In fact, we have to go on the offense to stop the spread.”
The pause encourages people to work from home, sets new capacity limits at restaurants to 50 people, limit social gatherings to single-households, and observe other restrictions.
It will apply to Jackson, Multnomah, Marion, Malheur, and Umatilla counties. Several more counties will be reviewed next week and further restrictions are pending.