A seemingly battle-worn Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday defended her decision to reinstate Oregon’s indoor mask mandate this Friday — saying she didn’t realize until recently that virtually none of the county leaders she’d entrusted to change the course of the COVID-19 pandemic planned to do a thing to slow record-breaking coronavirus spread and hospitalizations.
Brown said it became clear after a meeting last week with county commissioners that “local elected officials were not willing to make the tough decisions – and I needed to make the decision to preserve our hospital bed capacity and ensure that we have adequate staffing to take care of people who need emergent care.”
It’s unclear why Brown wasn’t aware of the deep-rooted, unwavering political resistance in many parts of Oregon for enacting any sort of disease control measures even as cases and hospitalizations skyrocketed. Brown as recently as Monday continued to call for action by local leaders, with only Multnomah County adopting mandatory masking.
Brown’s decision to renew a statewide indoor mask mandate six weeks after lifting it underscored the latest twist in a lingering pandemic now being fueled by the highly contagious delta variant. Public health officials expressed their greatest sense of alarm since the particularly deadly fall surge, acknowledging the situation is expected to get worse in the weeks ahead, particularly among the unvaccinated Oregonians most susceptible to severe COVID-19.
“The unrelenting delta variant is sweeping through our communities and there are no immediate signs that this rising tide will subside any time soon unless we act immediately to reverse this dangerous trend,” said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state epidemiologist.
He stressed the importance of masks and vaccinations.
• N95 and KN95 face masks, respirators on sale: Where to find them at best prices as COVID-19 cases surge amid delta variant
The number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 again set a new pandemic record Wednesday, at 665, with 172 people requiring intensive care.
And cases continued to surge, with 1,991 new or presumed infections announced Wednesday and another day of test positivity rates above 10%.
Brown now finds herself at the forefront of governors jolted into action, with Oregon becoming only the third state in the nation to soon require masks in all indoor public spaces statewide behind Louisiana and Hawaii. Nevada’s governor also has mandated masks in most counties.
The issue of mask requirements has been red hot — with some residents swearing they’ll never put one on again and launching scathing criticism at Brown. Others say she waited far too long to act until Oregon’s numbers began to break records.
Starting Friday, Oregonians age 5 and older must cover up in all indoor public spaces. An existing requirement that residents 2 and older must mask on public transportation remains in place.
In addition to masks, Brown also is requiring approximately 41,000 state employees in the executive branch — which excludes legislative or state courts workers — to show proof of full vaccination as early as Oct. 18.
The Oregon House Republican caucus described both of the new requirements set by Brown, a Democrat, as “oppressive.” Senate Republican Leader Fred Girod, of Lyons, criticized the governor Wednesday for what he characterized as a lack of clear standards.
“Instead, these mandates seem to be driven by left-wing activists who want a permanent pandemic to push forward unpopular policies,” Girod said in a statement.
Sounding weary and perturbed at times that she’d been put in the position nearly 18 months after the state’s first case was diagnosed, Brown fielded a barrage of questions from reporters Wednesday during her first news conference about COVID-19 in more than six weeks.
Often, Brown sidestepped answers — declining to say directly if she regretted reopening Oregon and lifting the mask mandate June 30, even though at the time experts were predicting the delta variant would become responsible for most infections in the United States in a matter of weeks.
“Look, at that point in time, in terms of the pandemic, local authorities — particularly county commissioners — had been asking me for months, over a year, to initiate local control,” Brown said.
She added: “We were at a point in the pandemic that we needed to move forward.”
In the weeks that followed Oregon’s reopening, forecasts began sounding the alarm. A July 23 forecast from the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation predicted exponential spread into the fall. Oregon’s crisis, however, has already exceeded some of those grim projections — with cases increasing nine-fold and hospitalizations more than six-fold since the governor lifted the mask mandate.
Oregon Health Authority Director Patrick Allen defended the lack of earlier intervention, saying a portion of the public has become unreceptive to warnings and wouldn’t have followed preventative measures a month ago, even if the governor ordered them.
“Even today, with what we know today with where our hospitalizations are, with the amount of disease in the state, the actions that the governor is taking are being characterized by some as ‘oppressive,’” Allen said. ” … A month ago, with the reality on the ground being what it was, we would have had a huge problem with trying to get some people to follow those” mandates.
Brown didn’t directly answer questions about whether the resurrected mask mandate will be enough or if more mandates might be warranted. She said if 85% of Oregonians abide by her mask decree, Oregon will be short 250 of the staffed hospital beds needed to treat patients for any reason, instead of the 500-bed deficiency predicted by September.
Brown also didn’t explicitly say whether she is considering the reintroduction of capacity limits on indoor restaurants, bars and gyms or potential closures. But she hinted that might be on the table if needed.
“My goal is to get kids back into the classroom on a full-time basis and keep them safe and to keep our businesses open,” Brown said. ” … We’re still in the midst of a pandemic and I will take the actions that I need to keep Oregonians safe, healthy and alive and make sure that we have adequate hospital capacity.”
She did say she has no plans to create a statewide vaccine verification system, which could be used to allow only vaccinated people into restaurants, stadiums or other businesses.
The association representing the state’s hospitality industry, with more than 150,000 employees, stated no overt objection to Brown’s mask mandate. But Jason Brandt, president of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association, said in a statement that the mask mandate “must not lead to any other statewide business regulations. The industry is nowhere near recovery and has a long road ahead.”
Brown said the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division has the same power it has had in the past to fine businesses that don’t comply with her mask order, but she won’t call upon local or state police to enforce mask usage among the populace.
“I’m asking Oregonians to take personal responsibility,” Brown said.
She urged everyone to do their part.
“I know Oregonians are tired of wearing masks,” she said. “I certainly am, too. But every time someone wears a mask, that’s one more unvaccinated kid we’re protecting. That mask could keep your best friend or loved one out of the hospital. Masks show our support for doctors and nurses who are working so incredibly hard right now.”
— Aimee Green; [email protected]; @o_aimee
©2021 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
—-
This content is published through a licensing agreement with Acquire Media using its NewsEdge technology.
“Instead, these mandates seem to be driven by left-wing activists who want a permanent pandemic to push forward unpopular policies,” Girod said in a statement.” Is she one of the ones in the new push to graduate those who can’t read, write, nor do basic math?
Despite the fact that masks don’t work, the powers that be keep pushing them under the false pretense that they are protecting others. Liberals have had such a power trip with this thing that they just cannot let it go. It holds so much promise for them down the road if they can just coral enough sheeple.
The reality of the situation is that wearing masks only delays the inevitable. COVID is everywhere, in your restaurants, the groceries you buy, the air you breathe., on the very lips of the people you kiss. It is NOT a matter of IF you will contract the virus but when. The sooner you get it the sooner you will discover how well you took care of your own health, and did what was needed to strengthen your immunity. Sitting alone in a hotel room in Vegas in a germ-free environment, masked and surrounded by Mormons like Howard Hughes went out, was not a life but a living death. When the going gets tough, the tough get going and face the enemy face on, armed with the best weapons at their disposal. The weak sob sisters just hide in their bunkers awaiting the pandemic nuke to land, turning America into a Time Machine, Science driven future of Morlocks too blind to see when exposed to the light of truth. Soon, like the Morlocks, feeding off others becomes your only option of survival, and you are forced to join the Democrat party of social dependent sheep or starve.
IF MASKS worked, we’d have NEVER SEEN THIS COVID INFECT so many people as it did..
CDC has said they CANNOT tell one variant from another; therefore, how do they know it’s the Delta variant that’s making people sick?? It may just be the flu!!
A question, i’d LOVE TO SEE some reporter ask Fauci, or the white house…
wear a mask or get a shot or end up in a gulag says commrade governor brown says.
folks in case you are wondering the communist are having a field day around the globe and i include the u.s.a.
people better get engaged or we will be cuba or veneuella.
PITY the sane folks left, in oregon, CAN’T RECALL HER SORRY *** like those in CA are trying to do with newsom..
If the Oregon Governor thinks enforcing mask mandates will make a significant difference in the amount of new Covid cases, then she is more ignorant & stupid than most people give her credit for!
“Gov. Kate Brown on Wednesday defended her decision to reinstate Oregon’s indoor mask mandate this Friday.” … Tee Hee
It won’t make any difference, the Democrat fools in Oregon do not obey laws, they riot, burn, loot and kill without any threat of being held responsible for their actions. And Now these Democrats do not require their children to be any more educated than a crayon.
Oregon has become a State that a rational person would avoid.
PITY all those who may decide to leave, will PROBABLY (based on history) BRING their liberal insanity with them, RATHER THAN LEAVE THOSE idiocies behind…
She wants to control the masses, but refuses to control the antifa insurrectionists? This is not right in any realm.
SINCE antifa ARE HER SORT OF people, why would she ever do anything to reign them in!
Seeing how well their tyrannic edicts worked the first time to destroy America, democraps are agar to reinstate all of their failed policies in order to finish off America.
The stupidity of the mask mandate is that the only mask that really works, is the N95 !! That said, how many people wear the “N95” mask ?? The truth is very few. Most of the masks you see are designer masks , many produced by individuals or companies and are nothing but porous cloth that does nothing . Even worse, the Chinese manufactured masks and labeled them “N95” and sold millions to the US . They were not true N95 quality and are now for sale in swap meets. This virus is like all the others. Some will die and 99.75% will live. The whole issue has been hyped into a frenzy by the D-Rats and because they realized Power, are keeping it going. Vote RED and save this country .
HELL< most of the masks i see being worn, ARE PROBABLY MADE IN CHINA….
Good god, making all this fuss over wearing a mask. Since people won’t be responsible enough to take these non-invasive measures that, yes, do actually work the governors in a few states have taken this course trying to keep everything going.
THEN YOU won’t mind if we permanently SUPERGLUE YOUR MASK to your face!
A whole LOT of fuss about the government coercing citizens to wear a device scientifically proven to be ineffective against a virus that that same .gov funded?
But the fuss is not all that silly when you add in the .gov goal/demand that everyone submit to an injection of a fluid that was never tested to stop the spread of the virus and has several severe side effects, including several thousand reported DEATHS.
There is no science behind the pressure to mask. The best measurement that exists right now are the live demonstrations of recovery in states that shut down vs. those that did not. The numbers say the open states fared far better, health-wise and economically, than the tightly closed.
And don’t forget that the Biden administration is releasing known infected families into the United States. Until this administration puts up, and re-instates the former administrations border controls, they can shut up.
“Masks stop the spread!”
“The vaccines work!”
PROVE IT! (I don’t want to hear more fake numbers. I want to see clinical PROOF. Not anecdotes or another Rose Garden photo op with lab coated actors.
First prove they work at killing the virus you have yet to isolate, then PROVE that the vaccines (and boosters) are safe.
Below is the conclusion from a study and meta analysis done at Stanford, with a link to the study. This is the science that the left for obvious reasons chooses to ignore…
Conclusion
The existing scientific evidences challenge the safety and efficacy of wearing facemask as preventive intervention for COVID-19. The data suggest that both medical and non-medical facemasks are ineffective to block human-to-human transmission of viral and infectious disease such SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, supporting against the usage of facemasks. Wearing facemasks has been demonstrated to have substantial adverse physiological and psychological effects. These include hypoxia, hypercapnia, shortness of breath, increased acidity and toxicity, activation of fear and stress response, rise in stress hormones, immunosuppression, fatigue, headaches, decline in cognitive performance, predisposition for viral and infectious illnesses, chronic stress, anxiety and depression. Long-term consequences of wearing facemask can cause health deterioration, developing and progression of chronic diseases and premature death. Governments, policy makers and health organizations should utilize prosper and scientific evidence-based approach with respect to wearing facemasks, when the latter is considered as preventive intervention for public health.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7680614/
Lockdown Kate, what a pedigree you have!! Related to former Gov. Moonbeam, and present gov. Newsom. Wow, I can’t wait to wear my mask, come put it on me LD Kate!
Who cares what the freakish governor wants she is a deviant who wants to destroy normal people. Wake up fools!!!!!!
Unfortunately, i don’t think theres many sane folk LEFT IN Oregon.. Well at least where SHE LIVES.