WASHINGTON — D.C.'s stay-at-home order is now in effect to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the District. In a news conference on Tuesday, Mayor Muriel Bowser clarified how D.C. Police will look to enforce the order.
One way that D.C. Police is implementing the stay-at-home order includes sending out PSA announcements through microphones and speakers that are attached to police cruisers.
Bowser herself shared a video on Twitter of D.C. Police doing this very thing near the National Mall, while people walked and ran in the area.
Bowser spoke in her news conference about being in "lockstep" with the region on what to do with the coronavirus and the efforts to make residents in the DMV practice better social distancing.
Bowser does not expect to have D.C. Police pulling people over from out-of-state or with out-of-state license tags. The question was asked after reports have been seen of police in other states and cities pulling people over and asking them why they are in the state.
“We certainly know that our borders are fluid, especially in the National Capital Region. There are people who live in Maryland that do essential work in D.C. and vice versa, said Bowser. So people are crossing our borders. We want to call everybody’s attention to all the essential things — food, medicine, going to an essential job, essential travel that you have to do."
Bowser says her office has notified everybody in the D.C. government to make sure that wherever they are traveling from — that they have an ID that shows they work for the D.C. government and can demonstrate that they are on there way to perform essential work for the District.
Bowser in her press conference said that no nonessential business has been fined for staying open, but that D.C. government officials have the ability to revoke a business license for any business that is knowingly violating this order from the Mayor’s office.
The change of shifts, assignments and work schedules for D.C. Police to help enforce social distancing is something that Bowser said has already been implemented.
School safety officers are reportedly being deployed to parks and playgrounds to make sure people are practicing safe social distancing.
Bowser said police tape will and has been used to help force people to not visit some public gathering sites.
According to the D.C. stay-at-home order, "Any individual who willfully violates the stay-at-home order may be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, subject to a fine not exceeding $5,000, imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both."