At the end of March, Oregon will be lifting its indoor mask mandate, among the last states to do so. We’re all encouraged by this, as well as by the significant reduction in new cases of COVID or the Omicron variant over the past couple of weeks. 

The Columbia Economic Team has worked to help fill gaps in information – and interpretation –of the executive order requirements since the start of the pandemic. This new development is an encouraging one for the operation of small businesses, in terms of how they run their businesses, and both customer and employee requirements. 

 To businesses contacting us regarding the implications of this action, our advice is fairly simple and straightforward. 

 Be safe, and do whatever you feel necessary to keep your customers and employees safe. 

 Keep yourself informed. This action will lift an indoor masking mandate – but there still are restrictions, requirements and safety measures for specific sectors. There is a lot of information out there, so stay current, stay informed, and ask questions if things are unclear. 

Go to the OHA website and sign up for daily updates. https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19#guidance 

Go here https://govstatus.egov.com/OR-OHA-COVID-19#guidance to get signage for your business that helps the public, your customers and employees know what conditions are.  

 These are just some of the factual information resources available. It’s important to note that hospitals and medical facilities, as well as child-care still will have masking requirements, or additional ones. 

These are the key elements of what we’re communicating to business owners and managers. For the public and customers and clients, please also stay current with the requirements in place – and when they are relaxed. Please don’t jump the gun – this requirement doesn’t get lifted for schools and the general public until March 31^st. Please be respectful of your local businesses and their employees. This is a few weeks off yet, let’s use that time to get vaccinations completed, boosters completed, and do what we can to help address the overall challenge as we look forward to an easing of the mandated requirements.