The Thursday tip-off of the NBA Western Conference playoff game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets will test Oregon’s plan to set aside seating for those who can prove they are vaccinated for COVID-19.

“We are thrilled to partner with the Governor and Oregon Health Authority as the first indoor sports venue in Oregon with vaccinated sections,” Portland Trail Blazers President Chris McGowan said Monday. “Rip City has shown us such tremendous support throughout the season.”

Oregon’s plan is unique in requiring those in the vaccination sections to prove they are are fully inoculated.

Gov. Kate Brown said Monday that COVID-19 had forced fans out of the Moda Center in 2020 and vaccinations could help bring them back in 2021.

“When fans left the Moda Center last March, it was one of the first signs this pandemic was about to change our lives in ways we hadn’t previously imagined,” Brown said. “Vaccines are the key to our return to normal life.”

The plan for the NBA game will be replicated across the state using the same rules, Brown said.

In counties approved to be in the least restrictive lower risk level for COVID-19 infections, new special sections can be set aside for those who are vaccinated. The areas will not be subject to mask and physical distancing limits still in place in other sections.

Counties can’t even offer the option until they have been certified by the state as being in the lower risk category for COVID-19 infections.

If a county’s infection rate is too high to qualify for the lower risk level, it is eligible for a waiver if it can show 65% of residents have had at least one shot of vaccine.

In Oregon, residents either received the two-shot Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, or the one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Deschutes, Washington, Lincoln, Hood River and Benton counties have reached the threshold, while Multnomah will join the list as soon as it finishes a state-required report on how it will reach out to underserved communities to ensure “vaccine equity.”

People in vaccinated sections will be required to show a CDC-issued vaccination card, or a digital or printed copy showing they are fully vaccinated and it has been 14 days since their last shot.

Nonvaccinated children up to age 15 can sit in vaccinated sections with their parent or guardian.

Oregon officials hope televised shots of NBA fans in the vaccination sections at Thursday’s game will remind viewers of the joys of pre-pandemic playoff pandemonium. That in turn could boost the state’s flagging vaccination rate.

Brown’s office said individuals, groups and organizations in qualifying counties will be able to create vaccination sections. Some of the options include restaurants, bars, recreation, fitness, entertainment, shopping and personal services establishments.

Venues and businesses have the option of sticking with their current rules requiring masks and social distancing.

If their county qualifies and they opt for the vaccination sections, the extra people will not count toward the capacity cap in COVID-19 restrictions.

“A theater would need to create a section for vaccinated individuals,” said Brown aide Charles Boyle. “Individuals seated in the vaccinated area would not count toward the overall capacity limit. Individuals seated in an unvaccinated section would need to follow mask and physical distancing requirements and would count toward the overall capacity limit.”

OHA statistics released Monday show that additional counties with large populations are closing in on the vaccination threshold. Clackamas, Tillamook, Polk and Lane counties have passed the 60% mark on vaccination.

Curry, Gilliam, Harney, Lake, Morrow, Sherman, Union, Wallowa and Wasco counties are all rated as lower risk based on their actual infection rates.

But several counties are not close to making the mark. State officials said Monday that Jackson, Marion, Douglas and Umatilla counties all needed to vaccinate more than 20,000 residents each to meet the 65% vaccination mark.

But even for those lagging in the vaccination numbers, there is a plan to get them to lower risk levels.

Brown has said that the entire state — all 36 counties — will move into the lower risk category if 70% of residents age 16 and older have received one shot.

OHA experts have told Brown that the 70% statewide mark would make it extremely unlikely that COVID-19 infections could rebound as badly as the peak period last winter.

As of Monday, 64% of those eligible under the guidelines had received at least one shot.

Large crowds sitting together without masks have already been allowed in several states that have opted for fewer if any restrictions during the COVID-19 crisis.

Political leaders have debated warnings by some infectious disease experts that allowing large unvaccinated groups to gather too early could lead to  COVID-19 “superspreader” events.

Oregon is not alone in creating special seating for vaccinated people at sporting, cultural and other events.

Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington has announced the creation of vaccination sections at some venues.

But Inslee says the state will not require documentation from those claiming to be vaccinated. Instead, the state will use an “honor system” in hope that residents will be truthful.

Some political leaders, mostly Republicans, have gone the other direction and sought to bar government or businesses from inquiring about vaccination status or requiring proof. Florida Gov. Rick DeSantis, a Republican, recently signed an executive order banning “vaccination passports,” saying they would create two classes of citizens based on vaccination status.

Oregon Republicans have criticized Brown’s emergency orders that have been in place since March 2020. Under the emergency decrees, Brown has wide latitude on public health decisions, including business and event restrictions.

The new policy of vaccination sections that require proof of inoculation came under fire Monday from Republicans who pointed to Inslee – a Democrat, like Brown – deciding to depend on taking Washington residents at their word.

“Does Governor Brown believe that Washingtonians are more trustworthy than Oregonians?” Rep. Daniel Bonham, R-The Dalles, said in a statement Monday. “If not, why such a dramatically different standard and approach?”

Brown has pointed to Oregon’s place near the bottom of the list of state infection rates and deaths as proof that the states’ risk-and-rules based system has served residents well.

Oregon has reported 198,972 positive COVID-19 cases and 2,624 deaths since the first reported cases of the pandemic reached Oregon in February 2020.

Nationwide, there have been more than 33.14 million cases and 590,262 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Cente