D.C. Stay-at-Home Order Extended Until June 8

Dear WANADA Members,

This morning, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that the District of Columbia will extend its stay-at-home order until at least June 8. She noted that, while the rate of new COVID cases has shown improvement over the past week or so, the rate of positive tests remains well above guidelines created by Johns Hopkins University, and the city has not yet hit the recommended two-week decline in community spread that the federal government has said is necessary to begin a phased re-opening.

The mayor said that the stay-at-home extension will allow the city to further ramp up its efforts to establish a robust contact tracing program, which will require hiring several hundred tracers and support staff members. 

Mayor Bowser did note that, while the extension is currently set to expire on June 8, the order theoretically could be lifted sooner if the city is able to establish adequate contact tracing capacity, while also continuing to reduce the total number of new COVID-19 cases and the rate of positive tests.

Please reach out to me or Joe Koch ( jk@wanada.org) if you have any questions. To learn more information about the city's ReOpen DC Task Force, please click here. The city is also soliciting feedback from business leaders as they establish the DC Economic Recovery Team; you can share your ideas at this link.

Sincerely,
  
John O'Donnell
WANADA President and CEO