Oregon Gov. Kate Brown announced Monday afternoon that she plans to ban gatherings of more than 25 people for at least a month and restrict restaurants and other establishments to serving takeout and delivery food only.

Exemptions to the ban include grocery stores, pharmacies, retail stores and workplaces, Brown said.

At the same time, Brown urged Oregonians to avoid being around more than 10 people at a time and suggested 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.”

Oregon Health & Science University’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Renee Edwards, also took a different stance than earlier public statements by the governor and state public health officials when she said the lack of capacity for widespread COVID-19 testing of people who aren’t seriously ill is hampering efforts to slow the spread of the virus. Roughly 80 percent of people who contract the virus display few if any symptoms, Edwards said during the press conference.

"Without the ability to test and know whether or not they actually have COVID-19, you don’t know who to isolate and who not to isolate,” Edwards said. “You don’t know who’s potentially infectious and who is not ... So testing really helps.”

Edwards, Brown and other public health officials strongly emphasized that people who are young and feel great very much need to practice social distancing because their failure to do so could kill elderly or otherwise particularly vulnerable people.

The new limits on gathering cover all events, including church services and private get-togethers such as a wedding. Failure to comply with Brown’s impending executive order, which will take effect Tuesday, would be a misdemeanor, Brown said.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommends there be no events with 50 or more people for the next eight weeks, and dozens of eateries and bars in the Portland area have already announced plans to shutter temporarily.

In response to the dramatic impact already hitting workers and the economy, Brown said she will likely call a special legislative session “sometime in the next few weeks." Legislation could address public assistance and unemployment insurance needs, among other options.

"We hope to put together a package that will provide our small businesses and employees across the state with the tools to survive over the next few weeks,” Brown said.

The top six Democratic and Republican leaders of the Oregon Legislature echoed that call, citing “the urgent and wide-ranging needs facing Oregonians” amid the pandemic. They noted a House-Senate committee on coronavirus response will hold its initial meeting Wednesday.

Brown’s latest mandate is a dramatic change from last week, when she announced late Wednesday night that events with more than 250 people would have to be canceled. Thursday night, she ordered the closure of all schools in the state from March 16 through March 31.

On Monday, Brown hinted that the school closure might be extended. "We are re-evaluating our school policy,” she said, and "we will be announcing further decisions in the next couple days.”

Even less clear was what working parents who rely on daycare can expect in upcoming weeks. Brown did not directly answer a reporter’s question about whether the 25-person limit on gatherings means day cares must close. Instead, she said her administration is working on a plan that will be released in the next day or so to ensure childcare availability for public safety, healthcare and other frontline workers during the coronavirus crisis.

-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @hborrud

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