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PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) — Starting Wednesday, nine Oregon counties will be on a two-week social activities pause.
The goal is to limit human contact and therefore slow the spread of COVID-19.
The pause applies to Malheur, Marion, Multnomah, Jackson, Umatilla, Baker, Clackamas, Union, and Washington counties.
For restaurants, the two big changes are limiting the maximum capacity inside to 50 people; that was previously 100. And keeping parties at six people or fewer; that was previously ten.
“You end up moving a lot of furniture,” Chelsea Brayfield, manager at The Broadway Grill and Brewery, said. “We’ve been moving tables in, moving tables out.”
“In the realm of coronavirus, it is better to be safe,” she said. “We want our customers to feel very comfortable in coming here; we want them to have a very clean environment.”
Brayfield said they got started early, limiting their restaurant to 50 people inside as of Tuesday; that way, they’re already good to go when the Governor’s pause starts Wednesday.
She said in pre-Covid times, their restaurant could fill about 140 people.
“It definitely cuts down on business,” Brayfield said. “We are a sports bar, so people like to get together with all of their friends, watch sports, so it’s going to be a little different to police the six versus the ten that it used to be.”
To help keep things running smoothly, they now have a hostess instead of letting people seat themselves.
Brayfield said, like other restaurants, their sales have taken a hit this year, and they’ve had to cut back on staffing.
She said thankfully, their customers are keeping them going.
“In this neighborhood, it’s a very tight-knit vibe, so we have a lot of great regulars,” she said.
For those nine counties, the pause also includes people working from home as much as possible, no indoor long-term care facility visits, reducing the capacity in gyms and other places to 50 people too, and keeping social gatherings to your own household or, if not, only six people.
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