After a short time serving up to 100 people indoors, the restaurants in Portland will have to reduce restaurant capacity again from April 9th. Multnomah and Clackamas provinces will once again enter the ‘high risk’ category for COVID-19 safety requirements, along with four other provinces. For at least two weeks, the high-risk provinces’ restaurants can not serve more than 50 people indoors or with a capacity of 25 percent, whichever is smaller; the state will reassign the province’s risk levels on 20 April to take effect on 23 April.
In early March, the number of cases in Multnomah County dropped low enough that Gov. Kate Brown allowed the province to enter the “moderate risk” category. In the category, restaurants could serve more people inside and outside, and larger groups of people served outside (eight people per table, versus six). Since then, however, the number of state cases has increased: Multnomah County reported 84 new COVID-19 cases on April 4, and the province has had more three-digit days of new cases since late March.
Deschutes, Klamath, Linn and Tillamook all also enter the high-risk category on April 9th. This will usually divide the situation between high and lower risk categories: from 9 April to 22 April there will be 14 high-risk provinces, six with moderate risk and 16 in the lower risk category.
As the number of cases increases, the province is trying to vaccinate as many people as possible to curb the spread: Government Brown has announced that all Oregonians over the age of 16 will be eligible for the vaccination on April 19, another acceleration of the state’s vaccination timeline . Restaurant and grocery workers were eligible for the vaccine on April 5, as well as other vulnerable populations.
“We are at a critical moment in this pandemic because we are finding more contagious variants of COVID-19 in our communities,” Brown said in a press release. “It’s more important than ever that we all wear masks, maintain physical distance, stay home when you are ill, and get the vaccine when it’s available.”
• New provincial risk levels [Official]
• New COVID-19 cases in Oregon [OHA]
• Multnomah, Clackamas returning to the ‘High Risk’ category [KOIN]
• All Oregonians over 16 are eligible for COVID vaccine on April 19 [O]