Oregon Gov. Kate Brown does not currently plan to issue a statewide order for people to shelter in place to slow the spread of coronavirus, she told reporters in a call Thursday morning.
But similar to Portland officials, Brown is planning for the eventuality that the state might need to take that additional step. A shelter-in-place order would mean people could only leave their homes for essential activities such as going to the grocery store or seeking medical attention.
The governor said public health experts and epidemiologists have told her that existing measures — including a six-week statewide school closure, ban on gatherings of more than 25 people and shutdown of bar and restaurant operations other than takeout and delivery — should be enough to help control the virus. That is, unless a sizable chunk of the population ignores those current orders.
"I am asking Oregonians to comply with the aggressive social distancing measures that we have in place,” Brown said. "My message to Oregonians is that by complying with these measures, you will save lives and one of those lives could be your own.”
Yet those measures do not go far enough according to the CEO of Oregon’s hospital association Becky Hultberg, who on Thursday morning announced publicly that her group wants Brown to issue a statewide “shelter-in-place” order.
“Mortality is higher when the health system gets overwhelmed,” said Hultberg, of the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems. “We must act now to save lives.” Hultberg said the group on Wednesday recommended privately that the governor “take the strongest possible action when it comes to social distancing measures now.”
Brown said that before arriving at her current position, she had a telephone meeting Wednesday with public health experts and epidemiologists. They generally agreed that Oregon’s government should focus on publicizing the state’s existing social distancing orders, which have “already restricted Oregonians’ activities significantly,” Brown said.
But the governor said she also wants to be prepared if it becomes necessary for Oregon to order people to shelter in place sometime soon. She will have a group of state agency officials write a definition of “essential businesses” that would be exempt from a shelter-in-place directive. Examples of the long list of businesses designated as essential in other jurisdictions that have adopted shelter-in-place rules include grocery stores, laundry facilities, takeout and delivery restaurants, healthcare, media and childcare serving people who work in those designated fields.
Some industries are already pushing to be designated as essential, including one of the state’s major sectors. “We heard rom the pulp and paper industry,” Brown said. Industry representatives told Brown’s administration “their workers are by nature of the work socially distanced," for example marking trees for sale, a job that Brown said her stepson happens to do, and operating sawmill equipment.
The pulp and paper industry also produces “essential” products such as cardboard boxes for e-commerce deliveries “and Oregonians’ favorite, toilet paper,” Brown said.
Brown’s chief of staff, Nik Blosser, said the state will carefully consider any supply chain impact in drafting essential business designations.
One of the reasons hospital executives and healthcare workers want Brown to take even more draconian steps to slow the spread of COVID-19 is that the state faces a severe shortage of personal protective equipment, such as masks and gowns.
When asked Thursday how soon Oregon might run out of the equipment, the governor said "we’re probably talking a couple of days off.”
The state is asking businesses with new equipment on hand to donate it at a site in Salem. On Wednesday evening, Brown ordered all healthcare providers to freeze “non-emergency procedures” to preserve those equipment supplies for an anticipated surge in coronavirus cases.
The governor said that the federal government has now fulfilled 25 percent of the Oregon’s March request for personal protective equipment, including 400,000 sets of specialized medical masks, gowns and gloves.
Blosser said that in addition to conserving healthcare facilities’ existing supplies and seeking donations, the state is looking into making the equipment on an emergency basis in Oregon.
"We are focused on how can we produce this and what meets the correct standards,” Blosser said, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have different levels of standards that range from recommended to “what you can use in a crisis.”
"We’re honestly considering every route,” Blosser said. "But we really need the (correct raw materials) to make sure that they meet the right standards.”
-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud
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