County Commission Orders Closures

In response to a heavy influx of visitors, Clatsop County is moving to temporarily close all short-term lodging businesses and campgrounds to most outside visitors to help prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The order, approved by the Board of Commissioners at a special meeting Sunday, orders the closure of hotels, short-term rentals and homestay lodges, and campgrounds for a 14-day period beginning noon Monday, March 23.

Exceptions are allowed for current campground visitors who have longer-term reservations dating from March 11, as well as campground staff, hosts and people employed in Clatsop County on a temporary basis; current hotel guests registered for longer than 30 days; and short-stay guests employed in the county.

Pools, spas and other public bathing facilities are also ordered closed.

The order covers the unincorporated county as well as any incorporated areas not currently covered by an emergency declaration. The order is issued under the emergency declaration approved March 16 by the Board of Commissioners. The complete order is attached.

The bans come in response to the large numbers of visitors from outside the county that descended on local towns and destinations on over the weekend. Large crowds and traffic jams were reported in Seaside and Cannon Beach, as well as Fort Stevens and Oswald West state parks. In many areas numbers were so large as to make social distancing – maintaining a six-foot buffer between individuals as recommended by health officials – difficult or impossible.

On Thursday the State of Oregon announced the closure of state campgrounds, but the closure was not slated to take effect until April 2.

“Clatsop County is a rural community possessed with limited emergency medical and healthcare capability, and is determined to follow medical guidance and do everything in our collective power to protect these vital community assets,” the county order reads.

On Saturday the Warrenton City Commission approved an emergency order enacting similar restrictions on lodging businesses. The Astoria City Council was scheduled to meet at noon Sunday, March 22 to consider a similar order.

As of Sunday, March 22, there were no presumptive or confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Clatsop County, but health officials believe the relatively low numbers of reported cases in Oregon overall is in large part due to the limited scope of testing up to this point.

On Saturday, David Reid, executive director of the Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce, released a statement to the organization’s lodging members urging them to consider cancelling reservations from visitors outside the community, stop advertising for business for the immediate future, and consider offering their establishments for the use of local healthcare workers.

“Visitors will not only increase the number of people potentially infected but speed the rate of infection, quite possibly beyond the ability of our (healthcare) system to cope,” Reid wrote.