Oregon governor Kate Brown speaks at a press conference the afternoon of March 16, 2020. Dave Killen/Oregonian/Oregonlive
Coronavirus resources: CDC on the coronavirus, Oregon Health Authority resources, Washington County resources, Oregonian reporting on the coronavirus, OPB glossary of coronavirus terms, NYTimes free reporting on the coronavirus.
This article was originally published by the Oregonian/OregonLive, one of more than a dozen news organizations throughout the state sharing their coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak to help inform Oregonians about this evolving health issue.
Gov. Kate Brown signed an executive order Friday extending Oregon’s state of emergency to July 6 in response to the coronavirus outbreak.
The move comes roughly two months after the original declaration was signed March 8. It was set to expire May 7.
The new executive order gives the governor the legal authority to maintain the orders she’s issued thus far — including the stay-home order, a moratorium on residential and commercial evictions and other financial stimulus measures — and issue new ones as she sees fit, said Charles Boyle, a spokesman for the governor’s office.
“Extending the state of emergency declaration allows those orders to stay in effect, however the Governor can still lift her orders as the COVID-19 situation warrants, as she did with her order delaying non-urgent medical procedures,” Boyle wrote in an email. “Our efforts to move forward with safely reopening Oregon will be gradual, incremental, and based on science and data.”
The new order extends the state of emergency for 60 days, but also allows Brown to terminate it earlier than that if deemed appropriate.
