Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that 29 of the state’s 36 counties are now at “extreme risk” of spreading COVID-19, a development that will place additional restrictions on several coastal areas this week.
Two weeks ago, the state classified 25 counties as extreme risks of widespread coronavirus transmission, assigning the highest of four risk levels based on a number of factors, including their population and the level of community dispersion according to various statistics.
Five coastal areas – Tillamook, Clatsop, Lincoln, Coos and Curry – have all been raised to the highest risk level after state data showed continued dissemination during the most recent two-week monitoring. The changes will take effect on December 18.
The entire Oregon coast is now classified as an extreme risk, meaning indoor dining will be banned and certain indoor businesses, such as gyms and theaters, will have to close. Religious services in those provinces are also limited to 25% capacity or 100 people, whichever is less. The state recommends limiting services to one hour. Indoor dining remains open to non-extreme countries, although even low-risk counties, such as Wallowa, should limit occupancy to 50%.
Multnomah County saw some of its statistics improve as the percentage of positive cases fell to 7.2% and the total number of cases and the number of caseloads per capita decreased. However, the rate of positive cases from the state’s largest population for the past two weeks remains at 498, more than twice the baseline for extreme risk. Washington County saw similar improvements, while Clackamas County saw the number of cases per 100,000 residents increase slightly, from 456.4 to 469.8.
“We continue to see the community spread across Oregon to the point that the majority of the state must continue to enforce strict health and safety measures,” Brown said in a statement. “Until we reduce the spread and have a high vaccination coverage, all Oregonians must follow the guidelines in force in their country. I also ask Oregonians to continue to apply the measures we know are effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19 – wear your mask, keep physical distance from others, avoid gatherings, wash your hands often, and stay at home when you are sick. “
The changes now come the first federally approved vaccines to debut this week in Oregon, with health professionals and long-term residents expected to be the first to be immunized. A second vaccine, made by Moderna, will likely be approved for emergency use Friday, according to The New York Times.
The risk levels released Tuesday include some shifts, such as rural Lake County being downgraded from extreme to moderate risk and Benton County shifting from high to extreme risk.
Grant and Harney counties were moved to the lowest risk levels.
It is not immediately clear how and why some of the smaller counties have been reclassified this week. The Oregon coronavirus website has a table of different statistics for hitting each of the risk categories, but those are against the guidelines that a state spokesperson previously determined that only the number of cases would be evaluated.
State officials have not answered questions about these discrepancies or whether the state has changed its methodology for classifying counties, which it has done without explanation at least once before. The discrepancies seemed to affect at least three sparsely populated counties, suggesting that officials made their decisions based on the total number of cases.
Andrew Theen; [email protected]; 503-294-4026; @Andrews