Today the Governor of Oregon installed two new state mandates that will go into effect on Friday the 13th. Governor Brown claims that this may encourage all Oregonians to vaccinate.

The first mandate is requiring face masks for all vaccinated and unvaccinated in all indoor spaces. Kate Brown claims that the Delta variant is the cause for this mandate, claiming that hospitals are inundated with patients admitted and that there are no ICU beds available. In Jackson County that remains a puzzle as in speaking with nurses in our area they claim that the only reason beds are unavailable is due to lack of staff, meaning that each bed must have multiple RN’s to care for a patients bed and that the hospitals are understaffed so beds are not being assigned.

The second mandate is for mandatory vaccinations for Health Care Workers, State and Federal Workers. On August 10, Governor Brown stated that all executive branch employees of the State of Oregon will need to be vaccinated. Oregon Health Authority issued a temporary rule August 5, 2021 requiring health care workers to be fully vaccinated or undergo COVID-19 testing at least weekly in order to work in a healthcare setting. For employers with a unionized workforce, a collective bargaining agreement could contain direct prohibitions on mandatory vaccines in the workplace. Although less common, individual employment contracts could present similar challenges.  Under civil rights and disability laws, employers with mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policies will need to consider requests for exceptions for individuals with either (1) sincerely held religious convictions, or (2) a disability that prevents them from receiving a COVID-19 vaccination.  https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/Pages/default.aspx

Across the state of Oregon, thousands upon thousands have gathered in their local counties and throughout the state protesting these new mandates claiming that science has absolutely proven that masks do not protect against viruses. Citing Dr. Anthony Fauci who said in an email correspondence last year that face masks aren’t needed unless an individual was sick and that the coronavirus was able to pass through personal face masks easily. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fauci-said-masks-were-not-really-effective-at-blocking-virus-emails-reveal/ar-AAKDKsP

In July of this year President Biden launched an Advisory Board that consists of nine Democrat Governors.  Kate Brown is included on this board who is assigned the task of strengthening federal and state collaboration on major national security issues.  https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/michigans-gretchen-whitmer-oregons-kate-brown-among-governors-named-to-biden-council/ar-AALVYwl the distrust of Governor Kate Brown is at an all time high according to many polls that have circulated over the past year in the state of Oregon.