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Multnomah County to Phase 1 reopening now on hold

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Until shortly after 7 p.m. Thursday, it was possible Multnomah County would enter Phase 1 reopening.

Not anymore.

 Oregon Governor Kate Brown has issued a week-long, statewide “pause” on all pending applications for reopening, according to a Thursday evening announcement from her office.

The county submitted their application last week and on Wednesday, met to go over data and progress, showing some improvement.

Oregon presses pause on pending reopening applications

Multnomah County is the only Oregon county not in Phase 1. On Wednesday, 32 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the county Wednesday out of 72 new cases total in the state. On Thursday, Multnomah County had another 43 cases.

Leaders and health officials were still hopeful they would have been approved for June 12.

“This was not the outcome we anticipated when we submitted our application
on June 5,’’ Multnomah County Chair Deborah Kafoury said in a statement. “I understand how difficult this is for businesses, employers and families. But the increase in cases and delay in reopening is a reminder that we are very much still in this.’’

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“There may not be a perfect time to reopen, so our hope and our plan is to have a good enough mitigation effort in place through contract tracing, through ability of testing and watching closely to see what happens with our numbers and adjusting accordingly,” Dr. Jennifer Vines, the county’s lead health officer, said Wednesday.

“Someone earlier today described this as a dance that we’re doing with this virus, with our community, and it’s going to come down to everybody keeping 6 feet of distance, using a face covering, teleworking if they can,” she said.

You can see Multnomah County’s reopening framework here.

Businesses in limbo

Mikey Denton, who owns the Brick & Mortar barbershop on Southeast Hawthorne, has been working hard during the quarantine to repaint and repair his shop. But as the proposed date for Multnomah County’s hoped-for entry into Phase 1 was pushed back, his optimism turned to frustration.

With late-night notice from Governor Kate Brown that Multnomah County wasn’t approved, Denton said he couldn’t properly plan.

“It’s not like a business gets to open up and we’re all good to go. We have to prepare, restaurants have to prepare,” Denton said.​

In Phase 1, salons and barber shops are required to wear masks, gloves and provide clean smocks for each client. Clients have to wear masks and wait outside until it’s their turn.

Denton is asking customers to be patient with businesses like his.

“Whether you think its a bunch of hocus pocus or you are really concerned about getting sick – the state is requiring that if you want to operate you have to follow these rules.”​

Miho Hatanaka, the co-owner Teascape Massage and Teahouse, ​has also been working on a lot of improvements, even bringing in local artists to create custom woodwork and giving the Teahouse a fresh coat of paint.

But it hasn’t been all happy HGTV.

Hatanaka and her business partner started the purchasing process to buy the Teascape Massage House in October 2019.

“However we didn’t have the transaction finalized until January 29 of this year, which was a month-and-a-half before the coronavirus pandemic hit and we were forced to close our doors,” she said. “Yeah it’s been 2.5 months.​”

A small business loan helped get them through.

She told KOIN 6 News she’s heard people express worries about getting a massage at this uncertain time. She wants to assure clients once they do open, they’re prepared to follow all precautions, requirements and suggestions necessary to keep people and employees safe.

She’s optimistic she’ll be able to reopen soon. Right now they’re taking appointments only to prepare for screening and sanitizing.

At the Fields Bar and Grill, owners Jan and Jim Rice pre-ordered food with the expectation that they would be able to open on Friday. The decision late Thursday to pause reopening applications, like Multnomah County’s, has left a better taste in the mouth of business owners.

“We were forced into a gamble on the fact we were going to reopen,” said Jim. “If we don’t reopen, we are going to have thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars in food that we are not going to be able to use.”

“We don’t have extra thousands of dollars to be gambling with right now,” said Jan.

Over at the Slabtown Barbershop, owner Marty Caballero said he’ll spend the evening calling more than 40 customers to cancel appointments.

“It just seems so disrespectful after 13 weeks of no work, to just kind of nonchalantly be like, ‘oh, by the way, you guys can’t open for another week,'” said Caballero. “Meanwhile, every other county is open.”

He said if there was more assistance available, it wouldn’t be as dire, but he said the desperation is worse than many people are letting on.

“There’s no money left. We are ready to get back to work, you know, it’s brutal, it’s brutal,” said Caballero.

Business owners said that because the other counties have already opened, businesses in Multnomah are falling further behind.