On May 28th, Governor Brown sent a letter to community leaders detailing the requirements for a county to enter into Phase 2. The letter clarified that a county must be in Phase 1 for 21 days before it can be approved to move into Phase 2. However, counties may begin the application process for Phase 2 after 14 days in Phase 1 by submitting a letter of request.
A letter of request to move into Phase 2 must contain:
- The date the county is requesting to enter Phase 2;
- A re-attestation that county first responders have sufficient Personal Protective Equipment (PPE);
- The number of trained contact tracers currently available to the county; and
- Any substantive changes to responses submitted in the Phase I application regarding meeting Phase 1 prerequisites.
Upon submission, the Governor’s Office and Oregon Health Authority will review that the county is still complying with the original criteria set forth for Phase 1 of reopening and that it also meets additional requirements for Phase 2. As a reminder, the original requirements are:
- Over the previous 14-day period, the percentage of emergency department visits for COVID-19-like illnesses (CLI) for the state as a whole must be less than the historic average for flu at the same time of year.
- Over the previous 14-day period, a county must show stable or declining hospital admissions for COVID-19. (This metric only applies to counties with more than 5 hospitalized cases in the last 28 days.)
- A county must have an adequate Contact Tracing System, as previously defined.
A county must continue to maintain adequate isolation/quarantine facilities, a Minimum Testing Regimen as previously defined, sufficient health care capacity to accommodate a 20% increase in suspected or confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations, and sufficient PPE supply as reported to OHA’s Hospital Capacity system.
Additional Phase 2 requirements include:
- Timely Follow-Up: A minimum of 95% of all new cases must be contact traced within 24 hours as reported in the state’s ORPHEUS system over the previous 7 day and 14 day time periods.
- Successful tracing: A minimum of 70% of new COVID-19 positive cases must be traced to an existing positive case over the previous 7 day and 14 day time periods.
- No increase in incident cases or positivity:
- There cannot be a five percent or greater increase in new cases in the county over the past 7 days; or
- There cannot be a significant increase in the percentage of positive cases out of total tests taken in your county over the past 7 days.
There have not been any additional details about what moving into Phase 2 will mean for businesses or individuals beyond a general statement that says it may include:
- Optional increased work in offices
- In-person local gatherings up to 100 with physical distancing (tentative and subject to change)
- Visitation to nursing homes (limited)
Cascade will continue to monitor news regarding Oregon’s Reopening Framework. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.