Flowers, masks and health warnings were just part of the scene April 4, 2020 at Salem’s Saturday Market. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Masks are coming to the state fair, and to other outdoor events across Oregon.
Gov. Kate Brown said masks will again be required statewide in outdoor public spaces starting Friday, Aug. 27 – whether or not people have been vaccinated against Covid. The rule applies to outdoor public spaces where physical distance between people from different households can’t be consistently maintained.
“The rule does not apply to fleeting encounters, such as two individuals walking by one another on a trail or in a park. While the rule does not apply to outdoor gatherings at private residences, masks are strongly recommended in those settings when individuals from different households do not consistently maintain physical distance,” the announcement from the governor’s office said.
The announcement comes ahead of several large Oregon events, including Oregon State Fair, which is scheduled to begin Aug. 27 at the state fairgrounds in Salem. Fair CEO Kim Grewe-Powell said the fair would take an education-first approach to enforcing the new mandate.
“We have signage and information addressing the mandate set by Governor Brown. We will also ask anyone who is not wearing a mask to kindly, put one on. Bottom line, we are committed to making this a fun and safe fair — for everyone,” Grewe-Powell said in an email.
The rule won’t apply to children under five, people eating or drinking, those playing competitive sports and people performing, such as outdoor theater or music events.
It also won’t apply to day-to-day operations at K-12 schools, which operate under a different statewide mask rule. That means kids won’t have to mask up at recess unless their school or district requires it.
Public health workers linked a large Covid outbreak in eastern Oregon to the Pendleton Whiskey Music Fest held July 10. It was the first large outbreak public health officials reported at an outdoor event, but health authorities say the risk at such events is now higher because of the more contagious Delta variant of the virus.
“It is much easier for people with the Delta variant, compared to people who were sick last year, to infect others around them,” said Dr. Dean Sidelinger, state epidemiologist, in a statement. “This is because they have one thousand times more virus in their nose – which means that those around them are much more likely to get sick because this variant behaves so differently. We are starting to see instances where cases are clustering around events, like outdoor music festivals, that happen outdoors. Wearing masks in crowded settings – even outdoors – will help slow the spread of COVID-19.”
-Rachel Alexander and Saphara Harrell
