Bend: 7 OHA and State Criteria Must Be Met First Before Reopening

Bend is world famous for both its outdoor pursuits and pristine beauty. But since the COVID-19 took over millions of lives worldwide, the city made some decisions to protect its people. Sally Russell, city of Bend mayor, ordered its community to stay home and put some businesses for temporary closure.

Based on Mayor Russell’s weekly email update, will Bend reopen soon? Read more to find out!

Reopening Plans for Bend

Mayor Sally released a weekly email update to talk about the most recent update with Bend.

I want to start out by saying a heartfelt thank you to our public workers, healthcare professionals, and other essential workers essential to keeping our community safe in the face of COVID-19. 

Mayor Sally Russell, May 2020

Also on her email, she recognized the incredible strain that were placed on people throughout the community every day. Business owners are still struggling to save their businesses and people are losing their jobs.

“Making sure we can re-open our local businesses with our local residents is my primary focus these days,” Mayor Sally added.

A week before Mayor Sally had released her weekly email update, an article from ktvz.com was issued. It talks about how cities of Bend and Redmond had hosted five listening sessions with focus groups from various business sectors. This is to gather feedback that could help inform the Deschutes County and state of Oregon on reopening plans.

“We wanted to hear from the experts – the business owners themselves – what they needed from their local governments to help them prepare for reopening their businesses as the state moves forward with a reopening plan,” said Bend Economic Development Director Carolyn Eagan.

“Feedback from the listening sessions is being shared with the County and State,” said Chuck Arnold, city of Redmond economic development manager.  “Our goal is to build local plans on how to reopen, so we are ready when the state provides guidance for reopening.”

Initial feedback from Deschutes County commissioners has been positive, as they want to support businesses across the County.

OHA and State Criteria

However, these reopening plans might be put aside if Bend and Central Oregon will not be able to meet the set criteria set by Oregon Health Authority and the State.

The criteria are as follows:

• Declining prevalence of COVID-19
  Percentage of hospital admissions must be less than the historic average of the flu for this time of year.
  
• Minimum testing regimen
  The county must be able to administer tests at a rate of 30 per 10,000 people per week.
  
• Contact tracing system
  Counties must have a minimum of 15 contact tracers for every 100,000 people.
  
• Isolation Facilities
  Counties must have hotel rooms available for people who test positive for COVID-19 and who cannot self-isolate.
  
• Finalized Statewide Sector Guidelines
  We must adhere to Oregon Health authority guidelines.
  
• Sufficient Healthcare Capacity
  To maintain the phased re-opening plan, each region must be able to accommodate a 20% increase in suspected or confirmed COVID-19 hospitalizations.
  
• Sufficient PPE Supply
  Hospitals must have at least a 30 day PPE supply at all times.

To reiterate, reopening cannot happen if Deschutes County experiences a large surge in COVID-19 cases. 

Mayor Sally also mentioned on her email that Deschutes County, the Bend and Redmond Chambers and Cities, and local leaders are working hard to prepare our community and businesses to re-open our local economy.

But above all these, the safety and health of the community is their number one priority.

Social Distancing Is The Key

Social distancing will be the key to keep our city and state safe.

Whenever you are outside, please continue to practice this and do not forget to wear your masks. Also, once you reach home, always clean, sanitize and disinfect all the things that you will bring inside your home.

Staying home and healthy is very essential nowadays, especially for our front liners. We must also do our part to keep them safe from the virus. They risk their health every day to take care for the rest of us.

If we do this right, we will be able to re-open our local economy and keep our community healthy.