Oregon officials consider making mask mandate permanent in workplace, other states lift restrictions

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Oregon officials are considering making its mask mandate permanent in workplaces despite many other states lifting their COVID-19 restrictions amid the nation's vaccine rollout.

Michael Wood, administrator of the state's department of Occupational Safety and Health, said the requirement to wear a face covering and practice social distancing in all businesses across the state may be extended indefinitely.

The proposal would keep the rules in place until they are 'no longer necessary to address the effects of the pandemic in the workplace' and would then be repealed.

But the idea has prompted a flood of angry responses, with everyone from parents to teachers to business owners and employees slamming the move as government overreach.

It comes as at least six Republican states have lifted their mask mandates in recent months, with Texas Governor Gregg Abbott going as far as to announce his state 'open 100 percent.'

The Oregon health department adopted a temporary emergency rule in November requiring masks, social distancing and pandemic-related training in workplaces across the state.

But the emergency order is set to expire on May 4 and cannot be extended beyond that 180 days.

Wood said the mask mandate should continue for now as he warned Oregonians that 'we are not out of the woods yet.'

Making the rule permanent is simply a way to tackle a technicality in the state law that requires a 'permanent' rule to keep current restrictions from expiring, he said, as he insisted the rule will be 'repealed' as soon as it is safe to do so.

The workplace rule is 'driven by the pandemic, and it will be repealed,' Wood said.

'But, it might not need to go away at exactly the same time the State of Emergency is lifted,' he said.

Wood did not provide a timeframe for when it would be repealed but said the decision will be made based on a complex mix of factors, including case counts, vaccination rates, case severity and advice from the Oregon Health Authority.

'It will be a complicated assessment when we do it, and I would say it is impossibly complicated to do in advance,' Wood said.

Besides mask and distancing requirements, Oregon's proposal includes more arcane workplace rules regarding air flow, ventilation, employee notification in case of an outbreak, and sanitation protocols.

It dovetails with separate actions issued by Democratic Governor Kate Brown, using a state of emergency declaration, requiring masks in public statewide - and even outside when 6 feet of distance can't be maintained - and providing strict, county-by-county thresholds for business closures or reductions in capacity when case numbers rise above certain levels.

Wood's comments sparked an immediate backlash with his agency receiving a record 5,000-plus public comments - mostly critical - smashing its previous high of 1,100 comments.

'The majority of comments were simply hostile to the entire notion of COVID-19 restrictions,' Wood said.

'The vast majority of comments were in the context of, 'You never needed to do anything.''

Justin Spaulding, a doctor at the Cataract & Laser Institute of Southern Oregon, is among those who raised concerns about the proposal in public comments.

'I do not understand these new guidelines for business. If we put these into effect we will only continue to blunt the recent drop in business,' he wrote.

'We have a large subset of patients that are unwilling (or) hostile with the current guidelines, and making them permanent will only make it worse.'

A petition on Change.org opposing the rule gained nearly 60,000 signatures and spread on social media, drawing even more interest to the proposal.

State Sen. Kim Thatcher, a Republican from Keizer, blasted the mandate when more of the population are getting vaccinated each day and after businesses have had to play 'mask cop' for the last year.

'When will masks be unnecessary? What scientific studies do these mandates rely on, particularly now that the vaccine is days away from being available to everyone?' she said.

'Businesses have had to play 'mask cop' for the better part of a year now.

'They deserve some certainty on when they will no longer be threatened with fines.'