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BREAKING NEWS: Oregon, Washington, California urge travelers to quarantine

Gov. Kate Brown in her Portland office (Amanda Loman/Salem Reporter/FILE)

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SALEM – Travelers are being asked to quarantine themselves for 14 days when returning to Oregon or coming to visit under an advisory issued Friday morning by Gov. Kate Brown.

The advisory was done in concert with the governors of California and Washington as Covid continues to spread rapidly. Idaho was not included.

“If you do not need to travel, you shouldn’t,” Brown said in a statement. “This will be hard, especially with Thanksgiving around the corner. But the best way to keep your family safe is to stay close to home.”

The governor scheduled a 1 p.m. MT news conference Friday to address additional restrictions. Oregon on posted a record number of new Covid cases, surpassing 1,000 in a single day. Malheur County on Thursday posted a total of 40 new cases in two days as a downward dip locally has been reversed.

The travel advisory applies only to “non-essential” travel.

Brown’s statement defined “essential travel as travel for work and study, critical infrastructure support, economic services and supply chains, health, immediate medical care and safety and security.”

“Persons arriving in Oregon from other states or Oregonians returning from other states or countries could increase the risk” of spreading the virus, Brown said.

This story will be updated.