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Posted on 08/10/2021 6:27:15 PM PDT by An Appeal to Heaven
Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that Oregonians will be required to start wearing masks in all indoor public spaces regardless of their COVID-19 vaccination status -- a move that comes as the pandemic spirals out of control and new projections show COVID-19 hospitalizations could nearly double by September from today’s record numbers.
Brown didn’t specify a date for when the mandate will take effect, but she is expected to share more details during a news conference Wednesday.
Brown also announced Tuesday that starting as early as Oct. 18 she will require all state employees in the executive branch -- which excludes the state Legislature and the judicial branch -- to show proof of full vaccination status.
The governor’s announcement came on the day Oregon set a new record for people hospitalized with COVID-19, at 635, including a record 164 people in intensive care. Total hospitalizations soared by 60 overnight and easily surpassed the record of 584 from November.
Despite growing criticism from some, the governor had repeatedly resisted reinstating a statewide mask mandate for the past month, saying that she was leaving the decision up to the local leaders of Oregon’s 36 counties and she was confident they would take the necessary COVID-19 precautions for their individual communities.
But only one county -- Multnomah -- announced a mask mandate starting Friday. That lack of action by Brown and across Oregon came as the delta variant took hold, with the seven-day average of new known infections increasing eight-fold and the number of hospitalized patients increasing six-fold in roughly the past month.
Wednesday, Brown said she could wait no longer -- despite the enormous unpopularity of masks among many COVID weary residents.
“Oregon is facing a spike in COVID-19 hospitalizations –– consisting overwhelmingly of unvaccinated individuals –– that is quickly exceeding the darkest days of our winter surge,” Brown said in a written statement Wednesday. “When our hospitals are full, there will be no room for additional patients needing care –– whether for COVID-19, a heart attack or stroke, a car collision, or a variety of other emergency situations. If our hospitals run out of staffed beds, all Oregonians will be at risk.”
Brown continued: “After a year and a half of this pandemic, I know Oregonians are tired of health and safety restrictions. This new mask requirement will not last forever, but it is a measure that can save lives right now.”
After weeks of grim projections Brown ultimately was motivated to act after seeing an even more dire forecast from Oregon Health & Science University predicting 1,100 hospitalized COVID-19 patients by mid-September -- if a significant measure such as a mask mandate isn’t resurrected. On June 30, Brown lifted nearly all coronavirus restrictions, including mask requirements in most public spaces, just as experts nationally were predicting that the highly infectious delta variant would soon become the dominant strain. Today delta is responsible for nearly 100% of cases.
Mobile Covid Unit Rising hospitalizations
The vast majority of those hospitalizations would be among unvaccinated Oregonians.
Although a small but increasing number of U.S. cities or counties recently have announced universal mask mandates, such requirements are even rarer among states. Oregon will join Louisiana, which instituted a statewide mask rule last week, and Nevada, where the governor has said residents in high transmission counties must cover up.
On the flip side, the idea of masks after nearly 18 months of the pandemic is offensive to some. As of last week at least nine states -- Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, Montana, North Dakota, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — have forbidden or limited mask mandates, according to The New York Times. Arkansas’ governor, however, recently said he regrets signing an anti-mask bill into law months ago because he wants school districts to have the option of requiring masks.
On Monday, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said he’ll require most state employees to show proof of vaccination. Like Inslee, Brown also isn’t allowing weekly COVID-19 testing as an alternative to proof of vaccination, although both governors are permitting exceptions for religious or disability reasons.
Tuesday, Brown said she hopes leaders of Oregon’s legislative and judicial branches also require all their employees to get vaccinated. But already, critics were pushing back on the vaccination requirement the governor will impose on them in the fall.
The Oregon House Republican caucus described Brown’s mandates as “oppressive” in a news release.
“The Governor has no business mandating COVID-19 vaccines for anybody. Running over free will is not leadership,” said House Republican Leader Christine Drazan, a representative from Canby, in the news release.
“I trust Oregonians even if the Governor doesn’t,” Drazan continued. “She shouldn’t be trying to control every aspect of their lives with mask and vaccine mandates.”
One of the state’s largest public employee unions, SEIU 503, said it supports universal vaccinations but wants to bargain “over the impacts of the vaccine mandate,” including paid time off for employees to get vaccinated and recover and exemptions “for people with a documented reason for not taking the vaccine.” That exemption would potentially be expansive, since the governor is already allowing for medical and religious exemptions. “That doesn’t mean we want the whole thing gone,” said Ben Morris, communications director for the union. Morris said he thought the union could resolve the issues in bargaining sessions over “a couple of days, maybe a week.”
Brown said her dual plan of masks and vaccinations are desperately needed now.
“There are two keys to saving lives,” Brown said. “Vaccination is the best way to protect yourself and your family against severe illness, hospitalization, and death. And, by wearing masks, all of us –– vaccinated and unvaccinated –– can help ensure that a hospital bed staffed by health professionals is available for our loved ones in their time of need. If we all do our part, we can beat COVID-19 once and for all, keep our economy open and thriving, and return our kids to the classroom with minimal disruptions in a few weeks.”
Reporters Ted Sickinger and Hillary Borrud contributed to this story.
Coronavirus in Oregon: Latest news | Live map tracker |Text alerts | Newsletter
-- Aimee Green; agreen@oregonian.com; @o_aimee
Someone show me a peer reviewed study that proves any mask, other than a N95 respirator, is effective against any virus.
I also live on a cattle farm in the country and am pretty isolated from people in general. In other words, I don't mingle with very many people in my life.
The county commissioners had a mandate for masks last year and as a result most of the few business we have in the small town I live near required them. But they did but enforce the mask wearing mandate in their businesses except for their employees because they could be fined if the country health inspector found any of them no wearing one.
But customers could not be fined so the business owners were lax in their enforcement. In a small, rural town, customers are few and far between to begin with so most businesses did not pester their customers.
We live on 30 acres in the country raising beef cattle. Pretty isolated already so locking down seems redundant.
Screw these communists
Dem governors addicted to power meth.
You knew the Kommie Karens could never give up the mask cold turkey. 4 deaths in the last two days out of 3.5 million people.
Is she going to close Autzen stadium too?
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