A health care worker conducted a coronavirus test at a drive-through testing facility at George Washington University in Washington, DC, last month. Graeme Sloan / Sipa USA / AP
There has been a surge in coronavirus cases in Washington, DC, according to data from the DC Department of Health. This increase could cause a setback for the criteria used by Mayor Muriel Bowser to decide when the city will begin the first phase of reopening.
Until this weekend, Washington experienced an 11-day decline in the spread of the corona virus community. The city said a 14-day drop was needed as one of the measurements needed before moving to the first stage of reopening. Sunday will be the 13th drop day – but there have been small surges over the past two days.
Because the spike is small, the DC Department of Health said on Sunday that it would consider this back to Day 11 of the decline because the number of cases was less than the department’s standard deviation calculations for the number of cases.
“We don’t have to go to zero,” the DC Department of Health Director Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, said in a press conference call.
Bowser said last week that Washington could begin the first phase of reopening on Friday, May 29, unless there was a surge in the case.
With this increase in cases, DC could still experience a decline of 14 days before it could potentially reopen on this Friday. Nesbitt would not comment on whether this rearrangement affected when Washington could be reopened.
There are two other factors to reopen: The positivity rate is less than 20% and the hospital’s capacity is less than 80%. On Sundays, the positive rate is 19%, and hospital capacity is 74%.
