Multnomah County retail, gathering restrictions to be relaxed State lowers county COVID-19 risk to 'moderate' based on decline in new cases confirmed. Citing a decline in new COVID-19 case counts, the state has moved Multnomah County from "high" to "moderate" risk, meaning the size of some gatherings and business operations can increase. But health officials continue to urge caution. "We are still very much in this pandemic, and I don't want people to forget that," said Jessica Guernsey, Multnomah County's public health director. "While trends are hopeful, we're still learning about new variants and we could see cases go back up. More importantly, people are still getting sick and people are still dying."