Dear Friends and Neighbors,

Holidays and celebrations remind us of what life was like before the pandemic.

For many, Halloween is full of special memories. As COVID-19 cases have risen recently, this Halloween comes at a critical juncture in the pandemic. Yesterday Oregon  marked the eighth day in a row of recording 300+ new cases each day, including a record-high 550 cases last Friday. The latest weekly data indicates a 6.5% weekly test positivity rate, marking the seventh week in a row we’ve recorded a rate of 5% or above and the first rate above 6% in nearly two months.

For Halloween activities, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) recommend that Oregonians avoid traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating and “Trunk-or- Treat” events because these are high risk activities for crowding among people who are outside your household.

Some ideas for safer, low-risk activities include: holding an online costume contest, watching a scary movie online, carving pumpkins with people in your household, decorating your house or apartment, or touring the neighborhood to look at decorated houses with members of your household.

Here is what the CDC recommends for trick-or treating this Halloween:

• Avoid direct contact with trick-or-treaters.
• Give out treats outdoors, instead of indoors.
• Set up a station with individually bagged treats for kids to take.
• Wash hands before handling treats.
• Wear a mask.

The CDC has also suggested the following alternatives to trick-or-treating:

• Hide Halloween treats in and around your house.
• Hold a Halloween treat hunt with household members.
• Hold an outdoor costume parade or contest so everyone can show off their costumes.
• Host an outdoor Halloween movie night with friends or neighbors or an indoor movie night with your household members.

If you’re in an area where people might still come to your door despite the public health recommendations, it’s important to maintain distance and wear a mask. This doesn’t have to be a stark choice between doing what you did last year or not doing anything because of the pandemic. Just please keep these risk factors in mind this week and have safe fun.

Flu Shot Reminder

The CDC encourages everyone 6-months-old or older to get their flu shot as soon as possible. Doing so will help improve our hospital capacity during flu season. As The Oregonian notes here, public health officials have warned our hospitals could reach capacity by middle or late December if our COVID-19 infection rates don’t decrease.

The flu vaccine does not make people susceptible to COVID-19, and there is no evidence that getting a flu vaccination increases your risk of getting sick from a coronavirus, like the one that causes COVID-19. Getting a flu vaccine is something easy we can do to protect ourselves and loved ones, as well as frontline health care workers. To find a flu vaccine clinic, visit http://www.flu.oregon.gov

New Statewide Face Covering Guidance
 

Last week, the Oregon Health Authority announced revisions to the statewide guidance on face coverings.

Face coverings are now required in all private and public workplaces including classrooms, offices, meeting rooms and workspaces, unless someone is alone in an office or in a private workspace. Employers must also make face coverings available to all employees, and all who visit businesses, public spaces or private workplaces are required to wear a face covering unless they are under 5 years old (with minor exceptions noted in the link below).

OHA is also recommending masks instead of face shields whenever possible. The exception to the recommendation is that people may use face shields when necessary or appropriate, like communicating with someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.

As the Mayo Clinic notes, “Cloth face coverings are most likely to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus when they are widely used by people in public settings. And countries that required face masks, testing, isolation and social distancing early in the pandemic have successfully slowed the spread of the virus.”

See more details about the new guidance in the graphic below or at healthoregon.org/masks.

Governor Brown Extends State of Emergency

Governor Kate Brown extended the declaration of a state of emergency regarding COVID-19 for an additional 60 days, until January 2, 2021. The state of emergency declaration is the legal underpinning for the executive orders the Governor has issued throughout this crisis, including her orders on reopening Oregon while maintaining essential health and safety protections, as well as orders around childcare, schools, and higher education operations. Extending the state of emergency declaration allows those orders to stay in effect. The Governor reviews and reevaluates each of her emergency orders every 60 days, to determine whether those orders should be continued, modified, or rescinded. The findings of this review process are listed in the executive order.