Oregon
Why California and Oregon Broke With the CDC
Two blue states acknowledge that health precautions need to be balanced with other priorities.
Recently, California surprised the public-health world by easing the state’s recommendations for asymptomatic people who test positive for COVID. The state previously urged them to isolate for five days to avoid infecting others. In a January memo, though, California Public Health Officer Tomás Aragón declared that “there is no infectious period for the purpose of isolation or exclusion.”
This policy change in the nation’s most populous state—which followed a similar move by Oregon last year—represents a remarkable break from the CDC, the federal agency whose recommendations have guided public-health policies since the coronavirus first arrived in the United States. Four years after the pandemic began, three years after vaccines gave Americans the option of protecting themselves, and a year after the Biden administration let the official public-health emergency lapse, the CDC still calls for five days of isolation even in asymptomatic COVID cases.
The question now is whether the other 48 states and the CDC itself will follow California and Oregon. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, whose department oversees the CDC, defended the disease-control agency’s current guidelines last week, while also noting that they are not mandatory. Emergency measures are more easily imposed than rescinded. Public-health agencies are good at telling people what to avoid but not at giving them permission to return to normal lives.
California and Oregon, two reliably blue states, are in a good position to lead; they were among the more cautious states at the height of the pandemic, and they are right to acknowledge that coronavirus-safety rules need to be weighed against other priorities—such as the need to keep schools and workplaces functioning. Public health has to take account of how members of the general public typically interact with one another in the world, and officials in both California and Oregon have explicitly cited the need to ease social disruptions caused by isolation policies. As California’s new guidance points out, COVID rules have effects that are “disproportionate to recommendations for the prevention of other endemic respiratory viral infections” such as influenza or RSV.
Before the policy change, one Oregon public-health official told The New York Times, children who appeared well but tested positive for COVID were being deprived of “a solid week of school,” and some adults without sick leave were missing work despite feeling healthy. The consequences of testing positive have been far-reaching enough under CDC rules that people have a strong incentive not to get tested in the first place.
Strict isolation requirements made far more sense earlier in the pandemic. The overwhelming majority of Americans have acquired some protection against the virus, either through vaccination, previous infection, or both—and have the option of getting more, via new booster shots that most people have yet to receive.
The policy change in California and Oregon has prompted some reasonable objections: The disease has killed more than 1 million Americans and was the third-leading cause of death last year. The decision was worrisome to those who see rising infection numbers caused by the latest winter surge of a virus that keeps mutating and keeps showing up in wastewater. Still, Oregon officials say the state’s infection rates since easing its isolation guidelines are in sync with the rest of the country’s.
Other objections are harder to justify as a basis for keeping people away from work or school. Some commentators have speculated that the rollback of rules by two liberal states acting of their own volition will encourage partisan attacks on COVID precautions more generally. But public-health restrictions are likeliest to elicit compliance when they’re narrowly tailored to current conditions and when health officials acknowledge the necessity to balance disease control and other societal needs.
Perhaps the CDC will eventually come around to California’s point of view. Ending school disruptions should be among the government’s highest priorities. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona is worried about chronic post-pandemic absenteeism across the country and is eager to bring student attendance back to normal.
California and Oregon have hardly given up on all safety precautions. Both states tell people who are sick with COVID to stay home until they are fever-free and recovering from any other symptoms, and they encourage people who test positive to mask around others and avoid contact with vulnerable people. Employees of California hospitals and nursing homes and certain other settings are still subject to more stringent rules than the new state guidelines for the general public.
Instructing the public to relax but not totally relax requires a tricky balance, but that shouldn’t keep individual states from trying.
The Oregon Country Fair is right around the corner and got an up-close preview of the annual event with generations of revelers expected to return yet again.
Vendors and construction teams were busy setting the venue up on Wednesday. It opens to the public on Friday, and organizers are expecting a big turnout.
For over fifty years, people have come together to enjoy live music, art, food and community at the event in Veneta.
“It has definitely changed and evolved and it’s definitely still holding true to the magic that has started the fair,” said fair attendee Jill Carter.
Carter has been going to the fair for about forty years, but throughout her time there, there’s always one thing on her mind.
“I’ve had a lifelong dream to do the poster, and I’ve been working on applying for a long time, and I got to do it and I’m so excited!”
Carter says over the years, she’s fine-tuned her design proposal to accurately capture the whimsey of the fair.
“In our day-to-day world, we really don’t get to connect on this kind of level of art and whimsey.”
This curated space of art and whimsey is what keeps generations returning to the fair.
“I was at a meeting the other day and somebody was a third generation Oregon Country fairgoer. Their parents were babies here. They were babies here. Now, they’re on crews that help manage the safety of this community,” says Kate Gillespie, the White Bird Rock Medicine crew coordinator.
Gillespie has been working within medical response at the fair for sixteen years.
Before fair goers even arrive, White Bird Rock Medicine works on setting up for the two hospitals provided on site as well as staffing medical crew – which consists of almost 300 medical professionals and mental health crisis workers.
“We are prepared to deal with first aid things like scrapes, bumps, bruises; injured feet are a big thing that we see – all the way up to things like cardiac events and strokes,” Gillespie explains.
And for the attendees they serve, the event is a yearly tradition that is more than just a fair – it’s a chance to catch up with old friends and make new memories.
“I think it’s really like a reunion for a lot of the people that are out here on this property,” says Gillespie.
The Oregon Country Fair runs Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the intersection of Suttle Road and Bus Road in Veneta.
For more information, visit the fair website.
The Oregon attorney general will ask a court to pause Paramount’s PSKY.O $110 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. WBD.O for 60 days, saying on Tuesday that the company withheld records of its lobbying efforts.
While Paramount has told the state it will not close the deal before July 16, Attorney General Dan Rayfield said he will ask a Multnomah County court to order the company to hand over records and to delay the deal so the state can review them.
“We’re not going to let Paramount Skydance play hide the ball so they can rush through their massive merger,” Rayfield said in a statement. “Oregonians have a real stake in this deal – in our film industry, in our economy, in the choices they’ll have as consumers.”
A Paramount spokesperson said the information Oregon seeks “has nothing to do with whether this transaction complies with Oregon’s antitrust laws and is not a legitimate basis to delay a plainly lawful, pro-competitive transaction.”
The company has provided the state with documents relevant to the merger, the spokesperson added.
Oregon is seeking documents regarding “Project Warrior,” which was Paramount’s internal code name for efforts to obtain regulatory clearance. The state is also asking for records related to the company’s efforts to lobby the Trump administration for support of the merger.
Paramount CEO David Ellison’s father, billionaire Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, has cultivated ties with President Donald Trump, and the company has hired former Trump officials.
Oregon is also seeking information on whether Paramount had any role in the U.S. Department of Justice’s statement announcing it had cleared the deal.
While Oregon ordinarily “would afford significant weight” to the DOJ’s determination, the state plans to cite a Wall Street Journal report that officials overrode career staff attorneys at the DOJ who were leaning toward a recommendation to challenge the deal, according to documents to be filed in court that Reuters reviewed.
The DOJ issued a lengthy statement last month saying it believed the deal would “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers.”
The company has said the deal would create a stronger streaming competitor to Netflix NFLX.O and Disney DIS.N, and benefit creatives and consumers.
California, New York and other U.S. states are preparing to sue to block the deal, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters last month. The states have authority to enforce laws against mergers that they believe would unlawfully decrease competition.
Opponents of the deal, including some actors, writers and media workers, have worried that it would hurt jobs.
When asked if he’d like to join the music program Keys, Beats, Bars, Mikey, who’s currently incarcerated at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn, figured it would be a good chance to spend some time outside of his unit.
Through a series of workshops, the program brought local musicians and educators into the facilities. They made beats and taught the group about rhyme schemes and rap bars. It was a way for Mikey and his peers to make music, but also to discuss common interests and their shared experiences at MacLaren as they brainstormed lyrics.
Eventually, they recorded a song, “No Ceilings,” about the barriers of incarceration, the music video for which is premiering at a July 11 benefit concert at the Tomorrow Theater dubbed the Restorative Justice Showcase.
Several formerly incarcerated artists feature on the night’s bill, including Keys, Beats, Bars co-founder Talilo Marfil and influential rapper and activist Mic Crenshaw, who led the workshops that produced “No Ceilings.” Hip-hop artist Swiggy Mandela will lead a live cypher, or freestyle rap session, with music by duo Alley Oop to end the show.
Mikey, not his real name, called the songwriting process “therapeutic.”
“Being able to listen to the beats or just channel that, in a positive way,” Mikey says, “I’m glad that I got the opportunity to utilize that while I’m here.”
Music has always been a part of Mikey’s life. His mom played Mariah Carey and DeBarge, and his grandma always had something on when they spent time together on weekends. When he’s feeling irritated or doesn’t want to be bothered, he turns to music.
“You find little achievements and little accolades along the way that, while you’re doing your time, make it easier to get through the day,” Mikey says. “Some people like reading books. Some people like playing basketball. Some people like listening to music.”
Marfil, who is also executive director of the peer advocacy program Ascending Flow, says he wishes he’d had programs like this when he was incarcerated. He found support through church, “but not everybody relates to church,” he says.
After his release, Marfil enrolled in Outside the Frame, an organization that provides homeless youth access to filmmaking resources. “It made me feel like my story mattered and that it was worth telling,” he says. “They gave me opportunities to show my films, my music, to the greater public in front of sold-out shows. Going from dreaming about it in a cell to actually doing it is a game changer for an individual.”
Keys, Beats, Bars runs several music programs for disadvantaged youth. But Marfil, alongside musician and community organizer Adam Carpinelli, launched the workshops at MacLaren.
“I’ve seen it give them hope,” Marfil says. “I think that’s the most important thing: hope, motivation, inspiration and, for a moment, a sense of relief through expression.”
To protect their anonymity, the music video couldn’t feature Mikey, who raps on the song, and his bandmates directly. Instead, Marfil contracted an artist to animate the song’s narrative, which follows a boy from childhood to incarceration.
“Usually, you don’t get to do stuff like that up in jail,” Mikey says, adding that he appreciated the project’s follow-through. “It was kind of cool being able to get the opportunity to record.”
MacLaren is Oregon’s largest juvenile correctional facility. It houses up to 187 youth, ranging ages 12 to 25. While similar to a jail or prison, this style of youth correctional facility places a stronger focus on education and rehabilitation. In contrast to juvenile transitional facilities and residential programs, MacLaren is closed-custody, meaning it’s secure and fenced. In 2025, a Marion County grand jury tasked with assessing MacLaren’s conditions titled its report “Cascading Failures,” citing gang activity, extensive contraband, sexual abuse and staff shortages.
Marfil stresses the role programs like Keys, Beats, Bars play in larger efforts toward restorative justice, and towards ameliorating systemic inequities in the U.S. prison system.
Projecting incarcerated youths’ voices outside of detention facilities is a powerful means for effecting change.
“The song is really just a reflection of being in the facilities and dreaming of what could be possible without the barriers that got them there in the first place, and what they want the community to see about themselves when they get out,” Marfil says. “‘No Ceilings’ is a good example of seeing that youth who are incarcerated have hopes and dreams, and they can contribute something to society.”
SEE IT: Restorative Justice Showcase & Voices From the Inside: A Youth Music Video Premiere at Tomorrow Theater, 3530 SE Division St., tomorrowtheater.org. 3 pm Saturday, July 11. $15. All ages.
HEAR: “No Ceilings” by Keys, Beats, Bars streams on YouTube and Apple Music.
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