PORTLAND, Ore. — Multnomah County officials submitted the county's COVID-19 vaccine equity plan to the Oregon Health Authority on Friday. The plan, which outlines how the county plans to close the equity gaps in its vaccination efforts, is one of two requirements the county must meet before it can move to the state's lower risk category.
The other requirement to move to lower risk is that at least 65% of a county's residents 16 or older must have received a first dose of the vaccine. Multnomah County reached that target last week. On Friday, five Oregon counties — Benton, Deschutes, Hood River, Lincoln and Washington — moved to the lower risk level.
Having submitted its vaccine equity plan, the county will now be eligible to move to lower risk on Friday, May 28, which will allow the county to significantly reduce its COVID-19 restrictions. The lower risk level allows a maximum of 50% capacity indoors at restaurants, theaters, gyms and other indoor entertainment spaces. It also expands retail store capacity to 75%.
Though Multnomah County will be eligible to move to lower risk on May 28, the county is asking Gov. Brown to approve the move even sooner than that. In a letter sent along with the plan, the Multnomah County Board of Commissioners asked Gov. Brown to let the county move to lower risk by Wednesday, May 26.
"As a result of the work that we’ve done and continue to do to address disparities, we are requesting approval to reopen Multnomah County as soon as the Oregon Health Authority has reviewed and approved our Vaccine Equity Plan," the letter states. "We are prepared and eager to reopen before May 28th, ideally by Wednesday, May 26th."
Lowering the risk level sooner than May 28 "will allow restaurants and bars, entertainment venues and gyms to expand capacity possibly several days sooner than they'd otherwise have to wait," county officials said in a news release.
The board of commissioners' letter doesn't mention it, but a large entertainment event is scheduled in Portland on Thursday, May 27, one day after the date requested in the letter. The Portland Trail Blazers are scheduled to play Game 3 of their first-round NBA playoff series against the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night. If the county is allowed to move to the lower-risk category by Wednesday, the Blazers would be able to welcome fans back to the Moda Center at 50% capacity, increasing the number of fans allowed inside the arena from the current allowed capacity of almost 2,000 to nearly 10,000.
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Last week, Gov. Brown announced a 70% statewide vaccination goal for residents 16 and older to fully reopen the state's economy. She said she was confident Oregon could achieve that goal by June to reopen and return the state to "a sense of normalcy" ahead of the July 4 holiday.
After reaching Brown's 70% goal, the state may still require the use of masks and physical distancing, the governor's office said, but all other health and safety requirements for counties under the risk level framework will be lifted, and counties will no longer be assigned risk levels.
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