Oregon Restaurants Return to Limited Indoor Dining Statewide

The Governor’s announcement ending Extreme Risk in 15 counties will help restaurants at a critical time ahead of Mother’s Day – typically the top sales day of the year.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 5, 2021

Contact:
Jason Brandt, President & CEO, ORLA     
503.302.5060 | jbrandt@oregonrla.org

Wilsonville, OR– Oregon restaurants struggling to survive welcome Gov. Kate Brown’s recent announcement ending the Extreme Risk category for 15 counties, allowing them to resume some indoor dining ahead of their busiest day of the year – Mother’s Day.

On Tuesday, Gov. Brown stuck to her commitment to use statewide metrics announcing that because COVID-19 hospitalization rates have leveled, restaurants and their patrons can return to limited indoor dining starting Friday, May 7. 

“With Oregonians continuing to get vaccinated each week, my expectation is that we will not return to Extreme Risk again for the duration of this pandemic,” Brown said.

This is welcome news to the thousands of local restaurants barely holding on during the pandemic recession.Oregon has seen more than 1,000 restaurants close in the past year.

“With indoor dining coming back online across Oregon, ORLA’s focus now moves to two crucial fronts – supporting efforts to continue relaxing restrictions and finding solutions for lodging and restaurant employers struggling to get their employees back on the schedule,” said Jason Brandt, President & CEO of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association. “The workforce shortage crisis is the challenge of our day outside government restrictions and it’s a national crisis. We look forward to working with our national partners on legislation to turn extended unemployment benefits through September into upfront cash bonuses to accelerate the industry’s recovery.”
 
Restaurant and lodging operations continue to take all necessary precautions to ensure the safety of their employees and customers. Oregon public health officials have confirmed only 3% of the new COVID-19 cases were traced back to restaurants and bars while most of the new cases are attributed to schools. 

“Now that everyone older than 16 is eligible, help us move away from future government restrictions by getting vaccinated. And please continue to support local restaurants this Mother’s Day by celebrating at your mom’s favorite place,” said Brandt.

For more information on the efforts of the Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association please visit OregonRLA.org. 

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The Oregon Restaurant & Lodging Association is the leading business association for the foodservice and lodging industry in Oregon, which before COVID-19 provided over 180,000 paychecks to working Oregonians.