In May 2023, Oregon got rid of its five-day isolation policy, and over the last year, it appears that the state promoted its isolation policy to other states and the CDC, with the policy being connected to the new CDC isolation policy. According to the CDC's new Respiratory Virus Guidance and Oregon's policy, people who are COVID-positive and symptomatic may now stop isolating if their symptoms are improving and they have been fever-free for 24 hours, and people who are COVID-positive and asymptomatic do not have to isolate at all. Most people remain infectious with COVID-19 for more than five days, and an isolation period longer than five days, not significantly less, is scientifically needed.

Oregon has extensively defended its politically-motivated isolation policy, saying that isolation doesn't work without other mitigations that Oregon itself removed and that kids shouldn't have to stay home from school for five days if they have COVID-19. This isolation policy excludes high-risk people from participation in society and increases the chance of individuals developing COVID cases; serious illness, including Long COVID; and death.

Oregon and California advise in their policies for people to "avoid" high-risk people, which is discriminatory in nature. Under the ADA and Oregon and California state law, disabled people have an equal right to access to public spaces; under Section 504, disabled students have the right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE). Several communities are at increased risk for severe outcomes from COVID-19, including people of color, older people, and other individuals who are at high-risk (a significant portion of the population). Every person in Oregon is at high risk for Long COVID, and risks for Long COVID and severe disease increase with each reinfection.

Oregon has claimed that there has not been a significant impact from this policy. However, they have dismantled most data related to case reporting and removed COVID-19 as a reportable disease in most instances last year, so they actually do not have the data. They also changed their metric for measuring deaths and are often behind in reporting them; recently, they did not post death data for two months. In addition, they changed COVID-specific policies to a more general "Communicable Diseases Guidance" that conflates COVID-19 with flu, RSV, and colds, and dismantled their COVID-19 school outbreak measurements.

In a recent interview, Oregon's state epidemiologist described the policy as based in "equity," saying, "trying to make sure that we weren’t unnecessarily burdening families, keeping kids out of school, or keeping people out of work who may have very limited sick leave — this made sense for us." Calling this policy - one that excludes disabled people, people of color, and other high-risk people from equal and safe access to public spaces - "equity" is twisting the very definition of the word. It is anything but equitable. This policy will worsen disparities, which Oregon knows. It is clear that Oregon won't advocate for better tools, such as mask mitigations and paid sick leave, so they're settling for worse.

Please tell Oregon that their policies are unsafe and demand that they instate a longer and safer, more science- and public health-based isolation policy.

This letter is for people from everywhere to send to Oregon's officials - you don't need to be from Oregon to send this letter! Please also use this letter to contact California's officials!

(A reminder when submitting comments that comments are public record.)