June 12, 2020 9:15 a.m. 
Thursday night, Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced a one-week statewide pause on pending county applications for reopening.
Brown said when reopening began, she was clear that the COVID-19 case counts would rise. Brown said that is now happening in several parts of the state, both in urban areas and rural communities. Brown said “reopening comes with a real risk”. She said state officials are carefully monitoring the capacity of the public health system to respond to COVID-19 cases without becoming overwhelmed.
Brown said “the noticeable increase in COVID-19 infections in Oregon over the past week is cause for concern”.
Brown said to ensure that the virus is not spreading too quickly, she is putting all county applications for further reopening on hold for seven days. She said, “this is essentially a statewide yellow light”. The Governor said it is time to “press pause” for one week before any further opening.
Brown said the pause will give public health experts time to assess what factors are driving the spread of the virus and determine if the state needs to adjust its approach to reopening.
This week the Governor’s Office received four county applications for reopening. The release said Multnomah County’s application to enter Phase 1, and Hood River, Marion and Polk counties applications to enter Phase 2 are all on hold.
Twenty-nine counties are in Phase 2 with six counties in Phase 1. Three of those: Clackamas, Washington and Lincoln counties have not yet applied for Phase 2. Multnomah County remains in baseline status, following the Governor’s latest announcement.