WASHINGTON — It’s Monday, December 7, and in the District of Columbia, more than 700 people have now died from the coronavirus.
The hundreds place in the city’s death toll rolls over as D.C. is reporting its highest case rate ever – averaging more than 250 new cases a day.
The situation in the District has gotten severe enough that on Monday, Mayor Muriel Bowser announced new restrictions on sports in the city, including the prohibition of high-contact sports (universities and professional leagues are exempt) and the suspension of high school extra-curricular sports.
The mayor’s order means recreation centers and sports clubs must also suspend physical sports and organized athletic activities for high school-aged athletes – and that’s all sports, not just high-contact sports.
Children and teens who are middle school-aged and younger may continue to participate in organized drills and clinics for high-contact sports as long as they are in groups of no more than 12 and the activities do not involve actual physical contact.
In addition to the new sports restrictions, Bowser announced the city will be providing a $1,200 stimulus payment to residents eligible for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program before it expires at the end of the year. You can read more about who qualifies for that here.
In case you’re in a hurry and just looking for the numbers, here’s how things look today:
- D.C. reported a new single-day high of 392 cases on Saturday, and a new record high seven-day average of 252 cases on Monday. As of Monday, more than 700 people have now died from the coronavirus in D.C.
- Maryland reported 2,302 new cases of the coronavirus on Monday – bringing its seven-day average to a new high of 2,708 cases – and 20 new deaths. The state has now average more than 30 deaths from the virus a day for five consecutive days.
- For the first time ever, Virginia is now averaging more than 3,000 new cases of the virus a day. The commonwealth reported a new single-day high of 3,880 cases on Sunday and 3,817 new cases on Monday.
How are things in the DMV?
Staying with D.C. news for a moment, the city’s COVID-19 case rate continues to skyrocket. As of Monday, the city is now averaging more than 34 new cases a day per 100,000 people – 25% higher than the city’s peak during the first wave of the virus.
Testing resources in the city remain strained as well. As of Friday, D.C. residents were waiting an average of 3.3 days for their test results. That’s half a day longer than prior to Thanksgiving, and above the city’s goalpost for insufficient capacity of a three-day wait time.
In slightly better news, for the first time since late October Maryland’s COVID-19 hospitalization numbers slowed and even decreased slightly over the weekend. As of Monday, there are still 1,561 Marylanders hospitalized for treatment of the virus, however – just 13% below the state’s all-time high.
Virginia, unfortunately, is going the other direction. In addition to the commonwealth now averaging more than 3,000 new cases a day for the first time ever, Virginia also set a new all-time hospitalization number over the weekend with 1,969 patients hospitalized for treatment of COVID-19. Of those, just under 400 were in ICU beds and nearly 200 required ventilators.