Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – D.C. is working on a plan to reopen, but it will be a long process before the city can get back to business as usual according to Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“Our community has made too many sacrficices to move forward too quickly or in a way that doesn’t prioritize the health and safety of our residents, so we will be deliberate and strategic in our plans to reopen,” Bowser said at a press conference Thursday.
Last week President Donald Trump unveiled the Opening Up America Again plan, which includes three phases and gives governors and Mayor Bowser the discretion to decide when to reopen. The first phase is a decrease in the number of new documented cases over a 14 day period, and hospitals being able to treat patients without crisis care. Bowser said reopening will also require widespread contact tracing abilities in order to control and contain the virus by enabling them to know who has it and who has been exposed to it. Part of the city’s reopening plan is increasing the number of contact tracers from 65 to 200. The city has also set up a Reopen D.C. Advisory Group, which has 12 committees and will be advised by experts from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at the John’s Hopkins University.
Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the D.C. Department of Public Health, explained the importance of increasing contact tracers as the city starts to reopen.
“As people begin to move around they’re gonna have more social contacts, and as they have have more social contacts we’re gonna need to touch more people,” Nesbitt said Thursday.
Nesbitt estimates each person produces at least eight contacts that will have to be interviewed in depth.
She said contact tracing is now focusing on congregate settings, including assisted living facilities and shelters. Even though many people live in apartment buildings, she said they are not focusing on them because people have private living spaces, unlike assisted living facilities and shelters where people may share dining rooms, bathrooms and other spaces.
She said it’s not of great benefit to contact trace every case because it’s difficult to identify the source of exposure for people who are moving around in the community.
Some contact tracing positions will be entry level, while others will require more public health knowledge.
The stay-at-home order in D.C. is in place until at least May 15.
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