Out-of-work Oregonians hoping to get an extra $300 on their weekly unemployment benefits may need to take an extra stop to start receiving those funds.
For people getting unemployment through the state’s Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, the extra payment authorized by executive order of President Donald Trump should appear automatically.
But people receiving regular benefits or the extra 13 week of payments under the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program need to go online to certify they’ve lost work because of the pandemic.
The state has six weeks' worth of federal funding. People qualify if they received unemployment benefits between July 26 and Sept. 5.Payments are expected to begin later this month.
The Oregon Health Authority reported two more deaths to COVID-19 on Friday, bringing the pandemic’s confirmed death toll to 497 in the state.
They deceased were:
Both had underlying medical conditions.
The state also reported 215 new diagnoses of the coronavirus Friday, bringing known confirmed and presumptive cases in the state to 28,865 since the start of the pandemic.
As COVID-19 infections slowly climb, health officials continue to express concerns that smoke from wildfires across the Pacific Northwest could affect recovery for people infected with the virus. Evacuating from fires while battling the coronavirus also comes with its own set of concerns.
“The first priority in wildfire situations is responding to the evacuation and safety instructions of local and state fire officials — and heeding their warnings. Regardless of disease status, if you are asked or ordered to evacuate, you should do so,” the Oregon Health Authority said in a press release Thursday.
The agency also asked people evacuating while quarantining to take these precautions:
Umatilla County is allowed to relax some coronavirus restrictions, effective immediately, the East Oregonian reported Friday.
That’s a reversal from last week, when Gov. Kate Brown and the Oregon Health Authority rejected the county’s application to enter Phase 2 of reopening. At the time, they said the county had more than 100 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents and did not meet other state metrics for easing restrictions.
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