Wasco County Set to Reopen Friday, Feb 26th

Wasco County has gone from having widespread COVID cases to minimal spread and is expected to drop from the state’s “Extreme Risk” category back down to the state’s “Lower Risk” category effective Friday, February 26th.

Wasco County has been in a COVID-19 case surge since mid November and many people and businesses have been anxiously awaiting reopening since the county entered the ""Extreme Risk Category” many months ago. Thankfully the surge in community transmission and COVID-19 cases following the holidays seems to have finally subsided.

How Risk Categories Are Determined

Risk for a medium-sized counties (with population between 15,000 and 30,000) like Wasco County are assigned a risk category based on its case count over a 14-day period. Having more than 60 cases over 14 days qualifies a county for the "‘Extreme Risk’ category, and less than 30 cases in a 14-day period qualifies for the “Lower Risk” category. The state does the 14-day lookbacks weekly, but only implements category changes every other week.

Wasco County came in just under the 30 case limit with a recorded 27 cases in the 14-day period from Feb. 7 to Feb. 20. In comparison, at the height of the December surge, following the holidays, the county sometimes reported more than 175 new cases during a 14-day period, nearly triple the threshold level to be included in the “Extreme Risk” category.

“We are excited and encouraged to see our case numbers decrease,” said Shellie Campbell, interim director for North Central Public Health District. “We are not out of the woods yet so we continue to encourage all residents to practice social distancing, continue wearing masks, avoiding gatherings, and staying home while sick, and get vaccinated when they are able to.”

Reopening Guidelines for Wasco County

Businesses across Wasco County will be preparing to reopen this week. State guidelines for reopening businesses include wearing masks and social distancing.

Restaurants.

In-person dining at restaurants and bars is expected to resume on Friday at 50% capacity with a midnight closing curfew.

Churches

Churches can once again operate at 75 percent capacity indoors.
Under the extreme risk category, they were limited to 25 percent capacity.

Theaters, Museums and Gyms

Theaters, museums, and gyms can operate at 50 percent capacity.
The previous limit was six people total in buildings with more than 500 square feet of capacity.

Long-term Care Facilities

Long-term care facilities can reopen for indoor visitation.
Only outside visitation was allowed under the extreme category.

Offices & Retail Stores

Offices can reopen for limited in-person work, (remote work was required if possible under the extreme category) and retail stores can operate at 75 percent capacity, up from the 50 percent under the extreme category.

Indoor Social Gatherings

Indoor Social Gatherings can now include up to 10 people (up from six in the extreme category) with a recommended limit from up to four households, compared to two in the extreme category.

State Guidelines and Vaccinations Continue to Help Slow Community Transmission

NCPHD said in a press release that the decrease in cases is thanks to community adherence to COVID-19 guidelines, including wearing of masks, social distancing and the distribution of vaccinations.

NCPHD has said that vaccinations are the the key to ending the pandemic and that vaccinations have played a key role in the drop in cases. As of today Wasco County has vaccinated nearly 13% of its population.

(For more information, please visit COVID-19 Vaccine in Oregon or contact North Central Public Health District at (541) 506-2600 or visit us on the web at ncphd.org or WascoShermanGilliamCovid-19.com)