PORTLAND, Ore. — Mayor Ted Wheeler on Thursday encouraged Portlanders to maintain social distancing practices, saying it's the best technique to save lives and get businesses reopened as soon as possible.
"As hard as it is to ask people to stay inside, this is the right time for people to really make that sacrifice – make that commitment. Do it for your own health and well being. Do it for your loved ones' health and well being. Do it for the community. The sooner we get through this, the sooner we get our economy back on the rails," he said.
Wheeler made the comments to Cristin Severance on KGW’s coronavirus Q&A show Thursday night. The appearance took place during the nightly cheer for front-line heroes fighting the virus, which Wheeler championed for Portlanders to take part of.
“This is a difficult time for Portlanders. We’re all isolated but the reality is this is one way that Portlanders can come together and I knew that Portlanders would have each other’s backs," Wheeler said of the nightly 7 p.m. cheers. "This is just a great way for us to, while we’re distanced, still come together and support the people doing the hard work to keep this city going throughout the crisis.”
As for the economic fallout from the pandemic, which has led to 269,900 Oregonians filing for unemployment over the last three weeks, Wheeler said Portland was quick to act to provide some financial relief for small businesses. The $2 million fund, which the city allocated $1 million and Prosper Portland provided another $1 million, was expected to help about 200 businesses.
Wheeler said the impact to the city's general fund will be somewhere around $100 million. He noted that some city bureaus, such as the parks bureau, have been hit harder because their fee-based services were shut down by the city's emergency declaration and Gov. Kate Brown's stay-home order. More than 950 city jobs were cut last week due to the new economic challenges.
"I hope we take this opportunity to really think about how we deliver services. Not just think about where we are going to make reductions but how can we organize government more effectively so that we come out of this leaner, meaner and more responsive to the needs," Wheeler said.
Wheeler said it's hard to tell when restrictions on social distancing and businesses will be lifted. He said it will be sometime after Oregon's expected peak surge of coronavirus patients, which public health officials expect to be later this month. After that, Wheeler anticipates Gov. Brown will follow the advice of public health officials as to when its safe to ease restrictions.
“What we’re hearing from the public health officials is because we maintain that physical distancing, that may have reduced the spread of COVID by as much as 50-70%," he said.