Today, Friday, June 19th, approved Oregon counties (all excluding Clackamas, Washington, Multnomah, and Lincoln) will officially enter Phase 2 of Kate Brown’s reopening plan.
Phase 2 further loosens restrictions initially set in place by the Oregon Government in Phase 1 and now approves the opening of additional businesses, services, and activities, so long that they follow certain guidelines. Businesses that have already reopened will still be subject to public health guidelines, physical distancing, gathering size limits, and sanitization guidelines.
Some of the new businesses and activities that have been approved in Phase 2 include recreational sports, pools, movie theatres, bowling alleys, and arcades. Alongside these new activities, the state is now allowing for some additional in-office work, bars and restaurants are now allowed to stay open until midnight, and gatherings like ones of a religious or civic basis can now be held in larger, physically distanced groups.
Phase 2 will also include new mask requirements. In Phase 1, customers were only encouraged to wear a mask in public places while masks were required just for employees. Now entering Phase 2, masks will be required for all public indoor spaces for everyone.
In order to be approved for entering Phase 2 counties had to meet certain prerequisites. These include having no significant increase in the number of cases, establishing adequate testing, isolation and quarantine facilities, and sufficient hospital surge capacity, as well as having a sufficient number of contact tracers for that specific county.
The counties that are yet to enter Phase 2 will be allowed to do so once the State’s required prerequisites have been met.
