Washington DC Likely To Begin Reopening On Friday

The Washington Post reports:

D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) is expected Wednesday to announce the gradual reopening of the capital, saying the city has been meeting key thresholds to contain new coronavirus infections.

Hospitals have been running below their maximum capacity, testing is on the rise and the city is in the process of hiring enough contact tracers to identify and quarantine residents exposed to the virus. But the city has been moving the goal posts for measuring the trajectory of the virus.

District officials have changed their approach to calculating the spread of the virus — no longer mentioning other reopening metrics they laid out last month, including a declining rate in people testing positive and a decrease in flu-like illnesses among residents who might not have been tested.

How did DC decide it’s safe to reopen, possibly as soon as this Friday? The metrics keep changing. @FenitN and I looked at the shifting ways DC measures what it means to contain coronavirus: https://t.co/OWxq0UIHrP

— Julie Zauzmer (@JulieZauzmer) May 26, 2020