Phase 2 Announcement Coming
Governor Kate Brown has given the green light for Lane and 30 other counties to apply for Phase 2 of the reopening. Counties that have been in phase one for at least 21 days are eligible. Brown says she will have results of the approved counties by sometime today. Under phase 2 group sizes will grow to 100 and restaurants that were required to close at 10 pm can stay open until midnight. Movie theaters will also be able to open with social distancing requirements in place. The OHA representative dr. Sidelinger says that positive testing cases have dropped a percentage point during phase one of reopening. As far as schools go, Governor Brown says she is hopeful that schools can return in the fall. But Brown also says it will likely not look like the traditional classroom.
“The department of Education is collaborating with teachers, with parents and with public health experts to figure out how we do this in a way that ensures safety, but also allows our children to learn.”
The Governor says that while statewide masks are suggested, she is in favor of cities and municipalities with dense populations that want to enact resolutions to require masking to do so.
Not Ready to Talk New Year-Mapleton Schools
Mapleton School Superintendent, Jodi O’Mara says the 2020-2021 school year is still off in the distance as far as what to expect. Efforts have been focused on completing this school year and getting seniors ready to graduate on Saturday.
“We are not necessarily planning per say for next year right now because we have no idea where this virus will take us.”
O’Mara pointed out that schools are separate from the Phase one/two/and three aspect of reopening and that they will operate under guidelines set forth by the Oregon Department of Education when the time comes to reopen schools.
Gas Prices
It has been more than a decade since Oregon saw prices at the gas pump below $2.45 in June. The last time according to AAA Oregon was in 2005. $2.45 is the current Oregon price for a gallon of regular gas, but with travel increasing and supply shrinking Marie Dodds with AAA says we can expect to see those prices slowly begin to rise. Here in Florence the price of a gallon of regular gas is at $2.26 a gallon.
Coronavirus Cases- Oregon
The total number of coronavirus cases in the state of Oregon has reached 4,399 with 64 new cases reported yesterday. There has also been 2 more deaths associated with the virus. The deaths were in Multnomah and Clackamas County and involved males in their 60’s with underlying health conditions. Lane County has also added two more cases of COVID-19 with 12,161 tests conducted.
