PORTLAND, Ore. — Gov. Kate Brown angered many small business owners in Multnomah County last week when hours before June 12, the county's long-targeted reopening date, she put a statewide hold on all reopening applications, preventing Oregon's most populous county from entering Phase 1.
Restaurants, gyms and personal service businesses must remain limited or closed.
The decision also revealed a significant difference in opinion between the state and county’s top public health doctors.
Dr. Dean Sidelinger, the Oregon state health officer, said one of the troubling signs in Multnomah County was so many new cases did not have an obvious source.
“Over 40% of the cases identified last week were not traced to a source,” he said at a news conference last Friday.
But Multnomah County’s Dr. Jennifer Vines correctly pointed out that while tracing cases is required in Phase 1 and the county is doing that, tracing cases to a source a specific percent of the time is not required for Phase 1.
“This is a metric that the state is using. I believe it’s part of their Phase 2 criteria so it wasn’t one we were particularly focused on,” said Dr. Vines.
The state also noted there are more positive cases. But those were expected as testing increased in the county and across the state. The state also said hospitalization numbers were on the rise but county officials point out the rise is small and the numbers low.
And if state leaders worried about rising numbers in other counties, the governor could have ordered a pause there but still allowed Multnomah County to go forward.
Because of the fundamental disagreements, it’s still difficult to learn exactly what it will take to allow Oregon’s only county not yet in Phase 1 to move forward.
Brown offered no specifics last Friday.
“I will continue to work with doctors and public health experts to assess whether to lift the pause, extend the pause or make other adjustments,” she said.
As a practical matter, the Portland Business Alliance, Portland’s chamber of commerce, argues keeping mostly small businesses closed in Multnomah County, but allowing them to stay open in neighboring Clackamas and Washington counties, only encourages the spread of the virus.
Andrew Hoan, CEO of the Portland Business Alliance, issued a scathing tweet that read in part:
“More residents will continue to travel to adjacent counties for their services risking more outbreaks, and the economic damage will continue to debilitate our small business community in the heart of the state’s economy."
When asked specifically what it will take to allow Multnomah County to enter Phase 1, the governor’s office issued a statement that basically repeated what she said last Friday.