Local leaders push back on extreme designation May 03 2021
Crook County Court writes letter to governor; Prineville mayor offers support to local businesses that choose to stay open
Local government leaders are pushing back against a recent change to Crook County s COVID risk category that will adversely impact Prineville businesses.
Gov. Kate Brown announced Tuesday that Crook County and 14 other counties will move to the extreme risk category, which prohibits indoor dining and limits the operations of other businesses.
Crook County has experienced a recent surge of new COVID cases, with 107 new cases reported during a recent two-week cycle. That is 47 more than the threshold for the extreme category, however, Brown had kept counties with case totals beyond 60 in the high risk category – which allows limited indoor dining – as long as the statewide number of COVID hospitalizations was less than 300. It exceeded 300 this past week, triggering the move to