Pamplin Media Group-Brown’s new order stirs up the fight: “I chose to save lives”

Oregon is the country’s leader in new COVID-19 infection rates, so some are pushing for new restrictions.

Governor Kate Brown said on Friday 30 April that he would not roll back a new executive order issued to combat the COVID-19 infection and the worst rate of hospitalization in Oregon.

“The incident is widespread and is caused by new, more contagious variants,” Brown said in a virtual press conference.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on April 30 that Oregon had the highest rates of new infections and hospitalizations in any state in the country. Cases of COVID-19 have increased by 38% in the last two weeks, while hospitalization has increased by 43%. Nationwide, both are declining.

Fifteen counties have already exceeded the extreme risk numbers at the top of the state’s four-tier COVID-19 risk chart. But Brown ordered that the county would not have to resort to the strictest restrictions unless the state’s hospital system was overtaxed. She set 300 COVID-19 hospitalizations as a “trip wire” to restore indoor food bans and strict restrictions on activities and meetings.

When the number of cases exceeded 300 on Monday, April 26, Brown lifted the moratorium on extreme risk limits and placed 15 counties on extreme risk limits on Friday, April 30. On Friday, the state reported 339 COVID-19 cases at hospitals around the state.

Republicans push back counties

Since the pandemic began to spread in the first few months of 2020, Oregon is one of the countries with the lowest case and mortality rates, with early and sometimes severe restrictions. Mr Brown said that he often has to make decisions about “livelihood and livelihood.”

“As your governor, I chose to save my life,” she said.

Brown said more than half of the state’s population had been vaccinated at least partially. The first vaccine was given to elderly people in nursing homes, who account for more than half of the state’s COVID-19 deaths. Although daily deaths have declined since the peak of last winter, according to Brown, current infection rates are rising rapidly, making them more contagious and even deadly new variants. Species had to take the recent surge as seriously as previous outbreaks. ..

Brown’s latest action included expanding public health authority by extending the March 2020 emergency declaration to at least June 28. Orders to incite extreme risks and prolong emergencies have sparked protests from some political and business leaders.

A Republican-led effort has been launched in the state legislature to launch legislation to curb Brown’s power or ban another expansion. “Literally, everything in Oregon’s life is determined by one person,” R-Bend Senator Tim Knopp said on Thursday, April 29, on the Senate floor.

A group of 27 county commissioners, along with the Oregon Restaurant and Lodge Association, will send a letter to Brown on Tuesday, April 27, reviewing her orders and instead making the appropriate decisions for the county or city to the local government. Asked to give more control for.

According to the letter, “It’s time to give our community the opportunity to move forward while embracing ongoing health and safety precautions.”

Mr Brown said he knew that the pandemic had hit small businesses, especially restaurants and bars. A special $ 20 million fund was created by the state legislature to go to companies that were financially hit under the latest restrictions.

3-4 weeks

Oregon health officials are also suffering from “vaccine repellent” throughout the state from people who are uncertain whether they should be vaccinated. However, vaccination has also become a political statement, reporting that in some counties in the Republican region, the number of people seeking firing is declining.

Mr Brown said supply will be redirected to areas where demand remains high. Lane County announced on Thursday, April 29, that it would receive three times the number of doses it received each week. Bring-in vaccination has also begun sporadically, mimicking state-wide efforts in New York and California.

Peter Graven, chief data scientist at Oregon Health & Science University and advised Brown throughout the pandemic, said it would only take three weeks to observe the limits before the virus spread stopped. He reiterated Brown’s position that maintaining active vaccination rates was the key to bringing the state closer to normal by the end of June.

Without current restrictions, Grave said 176 people could die and more than 700 could be hospitalized in the coming months, mainly in May.

Graven said short-term outages of activity have short-term and long-term rewards. “It only takes three to four weeks to get well,” he said.

Depends on science and data

While praising the individual health and community cooperation that vaccinated people have shown, Brown said the decision not to be vaccinated is a personal choice.

However, attempts to stop people from being vaccinated during a declared state public health emergency were unacceptable. Mr Brown said he was aware of Thursday’s incident in which vaccination activists abused students arriving at a school-sponsored clinic at Bend High School. Police were called in and the group broke up.

School staff also often received an anonymous message called the “Nazis” for approving vaccinations on school grounds. In Oregon, anyone over the age of 15 can consent to medical services, including vaccination, without parental consent.

According to Brown, a state of emergency was called in to stop the spread of the virus and eradicated the virus in Oregon with vaccines and other means. Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe and effective, according to health officials, and are the best way to stop the crisis that killed more than 575,000 Americans in just over a year.

“I’m the governor, but we’ll continue to rely on science and data,” she said.

Under Oregon law, it is illegal to try to prevent anyone from being vaccinated, and public health emergencies have strengthened punitive measures. “I hope the Oregons will obey these orders,” she said.

As of Friday, COVID-19 killed 3,171,155 people worldwide and 575,746 in the United States, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The Oregon Department of Health reported on Friday that 2,495 Oregon residents had died of COVID-19.

On Friday, the Institute for Health Metrics at the University of Washington said it was the primary predictor used by civil servants across the country, with current penetration rates continuing to surge in regions of the world such as India and South America. In the dead. By August 1, the virus is projected to reach 5.05 million worldwide.

In the United States, vaccination has reduced infections and reduced the number of deaths from the virus, but it does not stop. By August 1, IHME estimates that more than 602,000 people will die in the United States and 2,670 in Oregon.

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