Polk County Commissioners Letter to Governor Brown
Below is the letter to Governor Brown from the Polk County Board of Commissioners in response the OHA and OSHA mandates for private businesses and churches to verify vaccination status for customers:
May 27, 2021
Honorable Governor Kate Brown
RE: Oregon Health Authority and Oregon Occupations Safety and Health Mandates for Private Businesses and Churches to Verify Vaccination Status for Customers
Dear Governor Brown,
We, the Polk County Board of Commissioners, oppose the recent mandates and guidance issued by the Oregon Health Authority (OHA) and the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA) on private businesses and churches to verify the vaccination status of individuals prior to allowing a person to frequent that business or church without a mask or other face covering. These new mandates and guidance are misguided and place unfair and undue responsibilities on local businesses and churches, and their employees and leaders.
To comply with OHA and Oregon OSHA mandates, local businesses and churches will be required to train their employees to examine and determine the authenticity of medical records. In addition, these employees will need to be trained to interpret these medical records for the purpose of determining if an individual is “fully vaccinated” using different protocols for the various vaccines being administered in the community. If an employee makes a mistake or miscalculates a “fully vaccinated” date, the business or church could face fines or other administrative action from Oregon OSHA. The only other option is for a business or church to simply require all employees, and others, to continue to wear masks, social distance, and take like actions, which disregards the recent advice and guidance issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
This requirement, for businesses and churches to independently verify vaccination status, does not appear to be coming from either the White House or the CDC. As far as we are aware, no Federal agency or entity is requiring proof of vaccination (vaccine passports) or recommending that local businesses and churches implement a vaccine passport checking system. We do not understand, nor believe, that there is a reason for Oregon to be implementing such a system at odds with Federal, scientifically backed guidance that has been issued.
As a practical matter, requiring businesses and churches, and the employees of those establishments, to verify a person’s vaccine status is only going to lead to conflict between employees and customers. As Polk County’s restaurants, venues, churches, and other businesses have been devastated by shutdowns, restrictions, and limitations on their ability to provide service and function for over a year, the last thing any of these businesses and churches need is yet another, unsupported by science, mandate from the State of Oregon that is only going to lead to conflict as these businesses and churches and their employees begin the long and arduous task of attempting to rebuild what they have lost.
Vaccines are readily available to any resident of Polk County who wants to receive a vaccine. Any resident of Polk County can walk up and obtain a vaccine with or without an appointment. This is the time to be easing restrictions, not creating new mandates in the guise of easing restrictions.
It is time to return to normal.
