Two blue states acknowledge that health precautions need to be balanced with other priorities.
Carlos Barria / Reuters
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.
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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 Emergency measures are more easily imposed than rescinded.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.
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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.
Read: The pandemic’s soft closing
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.
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Instructing the public to relax but not totally relax requires a tricky balance, but that shouldn’t keep individual states from trying.
PORTLAND Ore. (KPTV) – Starting in 2026, a new law in Oregon requires all non-motorized boats, regardless of size, to buy and carry a waterway access permit. That includes paddleboards and kayaks.
But there has been some push back from one organization.
Ben Roche is part of Let Us Paddle. The organization aims to repeal the updates to the waterway access permit.
“It’s Oregonians constitutional right to free access to our waterways. And human powered watercrafts are the best way to do that, and the least environmentally impactful,” said Roche.
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According to the Oregon State Marine Board, permit fees range from $6 to $35.
If you’re caught without a permit, there’s a $115 fine.
The state agency says the funding goes directly to two programs.
One supports aquatic invasive species watercraft inspection stations and the other improves access points to the water that specifically serve paddlers.
“There is a need for inspection and we support that. What we don’t support is charging recreational paddleboarders for cleaning of motorboats that enter our state,” said Roche.
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Roche adds, the state is only funding a few dozen access points.
Let Us Paddle has collected at least 20,000 signatures, and they want about 130,000 more by July 2.
They need at least 120,000 verified signatures to put the repeal before voters on the November ballot.
But even if they don’t meet the requirement, Roche says he’ll keep pushing for change.
“I think it’s really a poorly crafted bill that collects a small drop in the bucket of revenue but impacts thousands of recreational kayakers across the state,” said Roche.
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FOX 12 reached out to the Oregon State Marine Board to ask more questions, but have not yet to heard back.
Oregon DMV temporarily paused dispersing new undercover vehicle license plates starting April 15.
FILE – The U.S. Department of Justice seal is seen on a podium before a news conference, May 4, 2026, in Washington.
Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP
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The Justice Department is suing four states after they refused to issue confidential license plates to federal law enforcement agencies, despite having done so in the past.
The lawsuits, filed Wednesday in Oregon, Washington, Massachusetts and Maine, seek to force states to resume what the federal government describes as long-standing, routine policies.
The scope of the combined litigation raises questions about ways the federal government has aggressively carried out immigration enforcement since President Donald Trump’s reelection, and whether the Constitution grants states the power to deny federal law enforcement agencies license plates that effectively conceal officers’ identities.
“Oregon’s DMV policy illegally discriminates against the United States, violates the Supremacy clause, and is unconstitutional,” attorneys for the federal government argued in court filings.
Oregon DMV temporarily paused disbursing new undercover license plates to all federal agencies starting April 15.
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“The DMV is currently evaluating the undercover vehicle registration program to ensure the program complies with Oregon law,” Oregon DMV Administrator Amy Joyce explained in a May 22 letter to Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate.
A recent lawsuit filed against Oregon State Police alleges the state is providing personal information to federal immigration authorities through databases, including Oregon’s DMV.
“If the DMV process for issuing undercover plates could be questioned under Oregon law, the State is at risk for additional litigation,” Joyce explained in the letter to Shumate.
The state’s review of the undercover license plate program doesn’t prevent federal vehicles from legally driving on Oregon roads.
“State and local law enforcement are unaffected by this pause and the federal agencies that participate in the program are able to continue to use their existing unexpired plates,” Kevin Glenn, a spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek wrote in a statement.
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Immigration officers have relied on these license plates for enforcement, including during Operation Black Rose in Oregon. According to U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement, officers arrested more than 1,498 people between September and March, which led to 1,057 removals.
The lawsuits filed Wednesday argue the states’ DMV policies undermine ongoing federal investigations.
“Federal law enforcement agencies should not be subject to the challenged DMV policy, which is unconstitutional and recklessly disregards officer safety, public safety, and federal operational needs‚” the Justice Department’s lawsuit states.
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Thursday is shaping up to be another active weather day across the region, with the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms developing this afternoon and evening. The greatest severe weather threat is expected across southeast Oregon, where the Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk for severe storms. Portions of southwest Idaho remain under a Marginal Risk, meaning isolated severe storms are possible. Boise and much of the Treasure Valley are mainly under a general thunderstorm threat, but storms could still bring gusty winds, blowing dust, lightning, and brief heavy rain later today.
Idaho News 6
Storms are expected to first develop across southeast Oregon and near the Nevada border this afternoon before tracking north and northwest through the evening hours. The strongest storms will likely stay west of Boise, especially across areas of Malheur County, western Owyhee County, and parts of the west-central Idaho mountains.
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Impacts
The biggest impact today will likely be strong outflow winds. Some storms could produce wind gusts between 40 and 60 mph, with isolated gusts near 70 mph possible in the strongest storms across eastern Oregon. Winds of that strength can blow around patio furniture, trampolines, garbage cans, and other loose outdoor objects, bring down tree limbs, and cause isolated power outages.
Blowing dust may also become a major issue in open desert and agricultural areas, especially across eastern Oregon and southwest Idaho. Visibility could quickly drop on roads and highways, creating dangerous travel conditions for drivers.
Some storms may also produce hail capable of damaging vehicles and outdoor property, while brief heavy downpours could lead to ponding on roads and reduced visibility. Frequent lightning will also make outdoor activities dangerous through the afternoon and evening.
Even though Boise is not currently in the higher severe weather categories, residents should still stay weather aware because any thunderstorm that moves through the Treasure Valley could produce sudden gusty winds and localized blowing dust.
Looking ahead
Storm chances continue Friday with additional showers and weaker thunderstorms before conditions gradually dry out heading into the weekend. Temperatures will cool closer to normal on Saturday before another warming trend develops next week.
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