Oregon Health Authority is proposing a permanent mask mandate. OHA will hosted a public hearing about a mandate for indoor public spaces last Thursday. This Monday, they held two more public hearings. Topics included, masking requirement in schools and COVID-19 vaccination requirements for teachers and school staff.
Hearings also include masking and vaccination requirements in health care settings. The temporary masking rules currently implemented in Oregon end February 8. The ‘permanent’ designation means the rule would have no built-in expiration date, but state health officials could still lift it when it’s safe to do so. The mandate put in place in August was a temporary rule and is set to expire in early February
Despite the name, permanent rules can still be rescinded or cancelled if the OHA determines that they are no longer necessary. Indications are that it intends to do so in this case. Permanent in this case just means the agency can leave the rule in place until case numbers fall back to a safe level, rather than being forced to end the rule in the middle of a surge.
Duties of Oregon Health Authority; rules. The Oregon Health Authority shall:
(1) Enforce state health policies and rules.
(2) Have the custody of all books, papers, documents and other property belonging to the State Health Commission, which may be deposited in the authority’s office.
(3) Give any instructions that may be necessary, and forward them to the various local public health administrators throughout the state.
(4) Routinely conduct epidemiological investigations for each case of sudden infant death syndrome including, but not limited to, the identification of risk factors such as birth weight, maternal age, prenatal care, history of apnea and socioeconomic characteristics. The authority may conduct the investigations through local health departments.
