Morrow County today moves from the “Moderate Risk” category for COVID spread to Lower Risk after Gov. Kate Brown announced updates to the county risk level this week.
The state’s public health framework uses four different risk levels for counties based on COVID-19 spread — Extreme Risk, High Risk, Moderate Risk, and Lower Risk — and assigns health and safety measures for each level.
Effective March 12 through March 25, there will be two counties in the Extreme Risk level, nine at High Risk, 12 at Moderate Risk, and 13 at Lower Risk. A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here.
Umatilla County Remains in the High Risk category.
The state revises the risk categories every two weeks.
“We are largely seeing case rates decline across the state, with the most counties in the Lower Risk level since the framework was introduced in November,” said Brown. “This should serve as a reminder that when we follow the health and safety measures we know work against this virus, we can truly make a difference in infection spread. But, we still have more work to do before we reach the level of community-wide protection we need in order to return to a sense of normalcy. I encourage all Oregonians to keep it up and to get your vaccine when it’s available to you.”
The Lower Risk category lets Morrow County businesses to operate with fewer restrictions and allows for larger gatherings at public events. For more, see the Oregon Health Authority website.
