WASHINGTON — Visitors coming from certain coronavirus hotspots will be required to self-quarantine for two weeks unless they are on essential business, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Friday.
This new order won't apply to Maryland and Virginia.
The city is expected to post a full list of the areas that are considered high-risk soon.
Some of the essential activities that are exempt include going to get essential medical care, getting food and going to places of worship, as well as those working in essential government jobs. Persons who are traveling through a “high-risk area,” such as through an airport or by vehicle, are not subject to this quarantine requirement.
Students from high-risk areas are still subject to the quarantine order.
Bowser also indicated that local schools have received reopening guidelines regarding testing, contact tracing, student behavior, and isolation in addition to quarantine, but did not elaborate.
Maryland and Virginia are listed as high-risk areas under a similar order impacting New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The District is currently excluded from those lists.
“We wanted it to be simple for everybody to follow and we recognized that,” Bowser said when asked why they exempted Virginia and Maryland in the order.
Bowser also said Phase 2 of reopening could be dialed back if necessary.
Persons who are self-quarantining after non-essential travel must:
- Stay at their residence or in a hotel room, leaving only for essential medical appointments or treatment or to obtain food and other essential goods when the delivery of food or other essential goods to their residence or hotel is not feasible;
- Not invite or allow guests, other than caregivers, into their quarantined residence or hotel room; and
- Self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and seek appropriate medical advice or testing if COVID-19 symptoms arise.
Persons returning to the District after essential travel, or arriving in the District for essential travel must:
- Self-monitor for symptoms of COVID-19 and self-quarantine and seek medical advice or testing if they show symptoms of COVID-19; and
- Limit their activities involving contact with other persons for 14 days to the purposes that exempted them from the self-quarantine requirement to the extent possible
The Order will go into effect at 12:01 a.m. on July 27 and will remain be in effect through October 9, 2020, or through the end of the District’s state of emergency.
As of Friday, D.C. is averaging 76 new cases of the coronavirus per day. That’s the District's highest seven-day average since June 9.