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The Oregon Legislature's emergency board today allocated $5 million for preventing and treating the novel coronavirus.
It's not clear if that's enough money to combat an illness that has ravaged the West Coast. The news this weekend that 14 Oregonians have tested positive for COVID-19 triggered Gov. Kate Brown's request for emergency funding—but both Washington state and California each have more than 100 cases, and Oregon's testing has lagged behind those states.
At today's today's emergency hearing, a bipartisan board approved sending $5 million to the Oregon Health Authority, and voted to make available up to $20 million from federal funds, as part of Oregon's share of $8.3 billion that Congress appropriated last week for coronavirus response. But not before public discussion that raised questions about the speed and sufficiency of Oregon's response.
Sen. Lynn Findley (R-Baker County) asked if it would be enough, citing Washington Gov. Jay Inslee's push for $100 million: "I'm nervous this may or may not be enough money."
Senate President Peter Courtney (D-Salem) response was: "We don't know."
Courtney cited repeated conversations with Gov. Kate Brown.
"I said, 'Can the legislature do anything?' This was several weeks ago," Courtney recalled. "She says, 'No, I think we're all right.' And then, as we moved on, I kept saying, 'Do we need anything?' She says, 'I think we're all right.' Even this five million, I asked: Enough? We don't know. We simply don't know."
Courtney's point didn't appear to be to question Brown's responsiveness—he was warning about the speed at which the COVID-19 spread had escalated. But his remarks suggested state officials had found the virus difficult to predict—which is likely to renew questions about whether the state's public-health infrastructure has proven sufficient.
"This thing is very dynamic," Courtney concluded, "and I have to say, we may be back again for more money because of this thing."