Oregon Gov. Kate Brown ordered Oregon restaurants and bars to stop all on-site dining and limit sales to takeout and delivery at a press conference Monday afternoon.

The closures come amid a larger ban of gatherings of more than 25 people for at least a month, with Brown urging Oregonians to avoid being around more than 10 people at a time. Exemptions to the closure list include grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores and workplaces, and Brown suggested that businesses that cannot serve customers in a way that minimizes interpersonal contact should shut down completely during the pandemic.

"Can your business do the equivalent of restaurant takeout?” Brown asked. "If you cannot do that, I strongly urge you to close your doors to customers temporarily.”

The decision came five hours after Brown announced she was not ready to impose a curfew or broader shutdown on bars and restaurants, despite new federal recommendations against gatherings of 50 or more. Meanwhile, dozens of restaurants announced voluntary closures, more than 100 chefs, bartenders, bakers, winemakers and more signed an open letter asking the governor to order a blanket closure and President Trump advised all Americans to Trump eschew restaurants, bars and gatherings of 10 or more people.

In her earlier press conference Monday, Brown suggested her decision not to impose any limits on restaurants and bars had come after a Sunday night telephone call with nearly 200 elected officials from around the state. During that call, she said she heard that “in our rural communities, restaurants are a key provider of meals to a lot of the elderly and vulnerable folks."

States including Ohio, Illinois, Washington and Maryland also ordered full-scale restaurant and bar closures Sunday and Monday, while California closed bars and limited capacity at restaurants across the state.

On Monday afternoon, Brown said she was issuing the order to close in order to “flatten the curve” -- to slow the spread of the virus so that the healthcare system can try to keep up with demand for care.

Portland-area restaurants began announcing voluntary dining room closures last week, starting with the upscale vegan restaurant Farm Spirit, the modern Jewish deli Beetroot and the Seattle-based steakhouse chain El Gaucho. Some closed their dining rooms altogether. Others tested out takeout menus or delivery service options.

On Sunday, a major domino fell when one of Portland’s most prominent restaurant groups, ChefStable, announced all 20 of its restaurants and bars, including some of the city’s best-known restaurants, would close, with some continuing to offer food to-go via takeout or delivery. By the time of Brown’s announcement, dozens of other restaurants and bars had joined the list of closures.

Food carts continued to operate as normal Monday afternoon, including at cart pods where the central beer bar or dining area had closed.

“I mean, we’re takeout, right?" said Matt Vicedomini, the owner of Matt’s BBQ and Matt’s BBQ Tacos and co-owner at Eem, which moved to a takeout-only menu Monday. “We’re super clean, we’re wiping down the tablet after every customer, we’re doing our best to be smart and we’re going to try to do that as long as we possibly can. We’ve got 23 employees and as of now, they’re all still working and making money.”

At North Portland’s German beer bar Prost, tables will be “flipped up” to discourage people from dining on the large patio and beer garden that normally provides seating for Matt’s BBQ and a half dozen other carts, Vicedomini said.

Among the letter’s signees were Bonnie and Israel Morales of Kachka, the celebrated Russian restaurant in Southeast Portland. Before Brown’s press conference Monday, the restaurant announced plans to close its dining room the public and offer to-go food for curbside pickup or delivery within a three-mile radius. The restaurant’s attached Russian deli, Kachka Lavka, will remain open as a grocery store.

By Monday, dozens of other restaurants had announced plans to test out similar takeout and delivery models either in-house or through third-party apps.

“As much as we need people in our doors, we started to think it was a little irresponsible to think of ourselves only,” Israel Morales said Monday. “I think it’s in everyone’s best interested that we safeguard the public and safeguard our restaurants financially so that there’s a future when we get to the other side of this."

As for the delivery service? Morales says he’s already found the right man for the job.

“I’m the delivery driver for now,” Morales says. “Hey, that’s me!”

-- Michael Russell

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