By SAM STITES/Oregon Capital Bureau
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown on Monday banned on-site consumption of food and drink at restaurants and bars, a 180-degree turn from indications she gave earlier in the day that she would not order closures or curfews.
Brown’s order, which takes effect Tuesday, allows restaurants to offer delivery or takeout service. But across Oregon, many restaurants were electing to close entirely. Restaurants and bars in Oregon employ about 155,000 food service workers.
In Yachats and Waldport, the sister restaurants Salty Dawg and Sea Note lounge said they would close Tuesday. The Flounder Inn in Waldport said it would try to remain open — without serving drinks. Vickie’s Big Wheel in Waldport said it would use only its drive-through window.
In Yachats, Luna Sea continues to offer takeout. The Drift Inn started offering takeout on Monday — and delivery within a 10 mile radius of the restaurant for a $10 fee. Ona restaurant was also offering takeout — even for its popular buffet dinner Thursday night.
The development came as Brown continues to ramp up restrictions intended to keep people out
of crowds and away from each other if they’re sick.
She has ordered nursing homes and other licensed facilities to limit visiting t the 30,000 Oregonians living in such settings. She has ordered every public school closed through at least April 1, sending 580,000 students home for at least two weeks.
And on Monday, she tightened the state’s ban on gatherings, now prohibiting any involving 25 or more people and urging Oregonians not to convene in gatherings of more than 10 people.
She also urged any restaurant that isn’t able to expand service to takeout or delivery to evaluate whether they should remain open.
“Each action has a ripple effect across our state, both on a personal level and an economic one,”
Brown said. “Working together, we can overcome these hurdles in an Oregon way.”
On Sunday, Brown told reporters she was considering imposing a curfew or even closing the
state’s restaurants and bars but on Monday morning, she said she decided against such actions — after a Sunday night conference call from officials from cities around Oregon.
Four hours after that, she announced the ban on inside dining.
Amy Lewin, spokeswoman for the Portland Business Alliance, said her organization is
evaluating the impact to its members, including the financial harm.
The Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association represents 2,600 members and more than
183,000 employees across the state. CEO and President Jason Brandt said Monday that his
organization will be giving a presentation on the immediate needs of the hospitality industry and its employees two upcoming meetings with state leaders — the Governor’s Economic Advisory Task Force scheduled for Tuesday, and the Legislature’s Special Joint Committee on
Coronavirus Response taking place Wednesday in Salem.
“The first thing we have to start with is making sure there’s no one-week waiting period to
access unemployment insurance. Given the current state of affairs, people cannot wait a week,”
Brandt said. “Second, we should relax rules around the work search provision.”
Work search provisions in federal law requires one to be proactively seeking a new job when
applying for unemployment, but Brandt points out that with the ongoing outbreak of coronavirus, the state is encouraging people to stay home.
“If we’re trying to save lives, obviously that’s an exemption that needs to be made immediately,”
he said.
Brandt said his organization is also encouraging people to find ways to support local businesses. Purchasing gift certificates to redeem later — as long as their gift cards are not run through a third-party service — can help infuse cash into a small business.
Making use of drive-throughs, takeout and delivery service for those business that have chosen
to remain open are also options, according to Brandt.
“Today was a really tough day, but we’re focused on making sure we showcase the resiliency of this industry.”
Governors in California, Ohio, Illinois, Massachusetts and Washington have ordered closures in response to the pandemic. Monday morning Brown told news reporters Monday, she would not follow suit after a conference call Sunday night with local elected officials.
“One of the things that I learned was that particularly in our rural communities, restaurants are a key provider of meals to a lot of the elderly and vulnerable folks,” she said. “And we are taking these concerns seriously as we develop policy.”
It was not clear Monday night what persuaded Brown to change her mind.
Yachats Mayor John Moore and Waldport Mayor Dann Cutter said in Facebook posts that they were on the Sunday night call – and strongly opposed shutting down restaurants because of the impact on small businesses.