15June 2020
The end of this week is still the earliest that Washington, D.C., could begin phase 2 reopening and raise some constraints as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
It may be possible for D.C. to enter stage 2 this Friday, June 19, Mayor Muriel Bowser stated at a press conference Monday early morning. She stated she would give an update later today on resuming. In the meantime, information recommends D.C. is moving in the right instructions.
“We have actually had the ability to flatten our curve and our cases continue to decrease,” the mayor said. “We have been doing it at the rate that the information states we should.”
The community spread metric tracks how many people are understood to have developed symptoms in the community– not in congregate settings such as jails, assisted living or shelters– on a given day. When the spread of cases in the neighborhood is down, it shows the infection is no longer rapidly spreading, the city says.
D.C. has seen “no turnaround in declining patterns,” Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt stated Monday.
D.C. is still in resuming phase one, with mass events restricted to 10 people. Stage 2 reopening would lift some constraints on restaurants, inessential stores, salons and outside leisure.
Nearly 9,800 people have been detected with the virus, D.C. states. At least 515 have passed away.
Dozens of individuals line up, waiting to get a free COVID-19 test at one of the 10 D.C. firehouses set up to offer testing. News4's Derrick Ward reports.
Black and African-American locals have died in out of proportion numbers. Out of the 515 people taped to have passed away from COVID-19, 74% were Black or African American, though the group comprises just about 46% of the District's population.
Source: nbcwashington.com