Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the Walter E. Washington DC Convention Center will be converted into an alternate care facility utilizing 473,000 square feet of exhibit space that will be transformed into a 1,200-bed medical facility to ease the strain on local hospitals in anticipation of the District’s surge in positive COVID-19 cases. If necessary, the convention center will mainly treat non-acute Coronavirus patients. (
Click here for a copy of the release
).
An Events DC news release indicated the build-out of the Convention Center is expected to be fully completed within approximately 30 days. Upon construction completion, the operations of the temporary facility will be managed by the medical provider, MedStar Health. (View
Events DC Press Release Here
)
Previously, Mayor Bowser extended the public health emergency, stay at home order, closure of non-essential businesses, and state of emergency for the District of Columbia through May 15, 2020. Even though the DC Council has authorized the Mayor to extend the public health emergency until early June this order will at this time go through May 15, 2020, until amended or rescinded. This order also details that individuals using/visiting and working in hotels, private transportation (i.e. taxis, ride-share) and retail food service are required to wear masks or mouth coverings.
Those industries including retail food are also required to supply employees with gloves per the new order. Under the new Mayor’s Order, the following individuals are required to wear a mask or face covering: employees, customers, and visitors of hotels, retail food sellers, taxis, ride-sharing companies, or other private transportation providers
We encourage members to review the order thoroughly. A copy of the Mayor's order can be found at the link provided below.
In addition to extending the stay at home orders and closure of non-essential businesses, the Mayor
announced last week
that District students will continue learning at home until the end of the school year and DC Public Schools (DCPS) will close on May 29, 2020, with public charter schools encouraged to close around that same date as well.
