Lincoln County officials say it remains uncertain when Lincoln County will qualify for an initial reopening of businesses under the State of Oregon plan announced Thursday due to questions about regional readiness.
Oregon’s reopening plan set forth by the Governor yesterday has seven key criteria measured at the County level or at a regional level that must be met before a County may enter Phase 1 of reopening. Lincoln County is in a region that includes Lincoln, Benton, Linn, Polk, Yamhill and Marion Counties.
Commissioner Kaety Jacobsen, Board of Commissioners Chair, said “It’s clear that Lincoln County can meet county-level benchmarks set out by the state of Oregon. However, there is less clarity if the county’s regional partners will be ready to meet regional criteria for hospital surge capacity, personal protective equipment supply levels for hospitals, and testing resources and capacity for the region.”
Under Phase 1, businesses closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as restaurants, retail shops and salons, would be eligible to open under state guidelines designed to limit potential spread of the virus. Counties were notified Thursday the state is ready to begin accepting applications for Phase 1 reopening, and state approval of the plan will allow opening of some limited areas as soon as May 15 if all the county and regional criteria are met.
Even under Phase 1 reopening, the Executive Orders discouraging nonessential travel remain in place as does the Stay at Home order, modified in some fashion to allow people to visit reopened businesses. In Lincoln County restrictions on local short-term lodging are covered by a separate order adopted by the county and cities and are not part of the state-approved reopening plan. The governor expressed concerns in a call with commissioners Thursday that the reopening not result in a deluge of visitors to the coast. Local work on a phased reopening of short-term lodging is included in the local planning process.
Commissioner Jacobson said the commissioners and county leadership are fully aware of the hardships the closures have placed on many local business owners, operators and employees. “It’s a challenging and difficult act to balance health and economic concerns, but we will make the best decisions we can based on the available data.”
She added that the county leadership team is actively pressing to determine answers to regional questions and is proceeding with an application to reopen with the information available on County levels of readiness.
so does this mean that Pacific seafood will not be able to bring in workers from 7 different states and 3 different country’s. on the 13th of May 2020?
To let the tail wag the dog is absurd. To link Lincoln County’s ability to reopen with other regional counties ability to reopen makes no sense. Just another way our Government kicks the issue of reopening down the road. It’s another measure to ensure our businesses will not survive. Our local and state leaders are corrupt and authoritarian.
Think about it. These Dolts make over 100,000 each…from us, the very tax payers they are abusing. Spare me the sympathy.
DO YOUR JOB. END THE LOCKDOWN
Why do the county commissioners continue to be paid? Many of the city leaders are retired, so they get their pay check every month also.
They should lead by example and suffer the same the same hardships they are legislating on their constituents. I wonder how much their motivations would change if their paychecks suddenly stopped and they had to figure out how to pay their own mortgage.
It must be nice for the likes of Hall, who want to prevent home owners from coming to the vacation homes they pay local property taxes on. It must be nice to rule from your ivory tower while making over twice the Lincoln county median income.
6 cases equates to a .012 % infection rate in this county and as I understand it, 4 of those cases involved a single family and friend who exposed each other, with the original exposure occurred outside the US.
Commissioners and city leaders….You need to open up Lincoln County and let our business owners start making a living again or lead by example and legislate your own pay cut.
Why do the county commissioners continue to be paid? Many of the city leaders are retired, so they get their pay check every month also.
They should lead by example and suffer the same the same hardships they are legislating on their constituents. I wonder how much their motivations would change if their paychecks suddenly stopped and they had to figure out how to pay their own mortgage.
It is unfortunate that we have a “leader” like Commissioner Hall, who want to prevent home owners from coming to the vacation homes they pay local property taxes on. It must be nice to rule from your ivory tower while making over twice the Lincoln county median income, but are willing to deny your voters the same ability to make an income.
6 cases equates to a .012 % infection rate in this county and as I understand it, 4 of those cases involved a single family and friend who exposed each other, with the original exposure occurred outside the US.
Commissioners and city leaders….You need to open up Lincoln County and let our business owners start making a living again or lead by example and legislate your own pay cut.
Thank you so much Kate Brown for protecting us here on the Oregon Coast.
Simple as this: People who stay off the beach, complain about those who went, people who want the shut downs….all DEMOCRATS…..We will all survive this, even if the Democrats ran with it and thought they could ruin our great economy. Anyone with brains would never, ever vote for a Democrat.
Hello, we planned on traveling to the out skirts of town for 4 days. Our renter is saying they are arresting and giving tickets to renters. Is that true?
This is ridiculous! Open up NOW!
Open up and open up safely all the people of Oregon are not Idiots we will keep ourselves SAFE AND OTHER TOO. GOV. BROWN NEEDS TO STOP BEING A DICTATOR AND BE A GOVERNOR FOR THE PEOPLE.
Check it out. I think this raises some good questions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPrbGU0Wyh4
Ditto Trish,
Progressives hype everything they can into a “Crisis” to attack business and spread socialism. They eating this stuff up and are purposely prolonging it.
And Sandra, Progressives like Brown are dictators, its in their manifesto.