How can counties move to Lower Risk?

With so many things going on in the world, it might have been a little confusing to keep up with the changes to risk levels in the past few weeks. To make it easier to understand, OHA has created an infographic that you’ll find at the end of this article.  

There are two routes that counties can take to move to Lower Risk.  

 Route one: 

  • Vaccinate 65% of county residents who are 16 and older with at least one dose of vaccine. 
  • Have an equity plan that has been reviewed and accepted by OHA.  
  • This move to Lower Risk is permanent.  

 Route two: 

  • Meet low infection rates approved by the Governor’s office.  
  • If COVID-19 rates rise, the county may return to a more restrictive level.  

Effective Wednesday, June 9, Lane County will be moving to Lower Risk via the criteria laid out in route one. Lane submitted a vaccination equity plan that was reviewed and accepted by OHA and successfully vaccinated 65% of its residents ages 16 and older. You can read Lane County’s equity plan here and review the state’s county vaccination rates here.

As a result of decreasing infection rates, Coos and Wasco counties will move down to Lower Risk, and Josephine and Yamhill counties will move down to Moderate Risk.  

Harney County will move up from Lower Risk to Moderate Risk due to rising case counts, effective Friday, June 11.  

A complete list of counties and their associated risk levels is available here

Infographic showing two routes to Lower Risk

This article first appeared in the June 8, 2021 issue of Oregon Coronavirus Update.