WASHINGTON — While Maryland and Virginia are piling on new coronavirus restrictions, D.C. has maintained the same rules. Mayor Muriel Bowser said that's in part because the city never eased up as much as other jurisdictions. The District has remained in Phase 2 of its reopening plan even after Virginia and Maryland progressed to Phase 3.
Bowser said more restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus are likely coming, as D.C.'s level of community spread ticks upward.
"Soon. I can't say when, but it will be soon," she said.
Instead, Bowser announced more help, including new testing sites and longer hours for residents, and $100 million in grants for struggling hotels, restaurants and entertainment venues.
She announced the city would be opening a new testing site in the garage at Nationals Park, to make it more comfortable as the weather turns colder.
She also announced firehouse testing locations would open a half-hour earlier and close a half-hour later, as more people show up ahead of Thanksgiving. The new hours will be 2:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
D.C. restaurants will be eligible for $35 million in grants, as the city hopes to help as many as 700 of them, with individual awards ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 doled out before the end of the year.
"It's been tough," Mirnal Berry of Masala Story in Brookland. "I've got to say, it's been tough."
There's also $30 million set aside for hotels, and they can start applying next week. There's another $20 million for entertainment venues and $15 million for retail stores.
"Despite this most recent infusion of funding, there's still going to be some businesses that are really hard hit," Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who sponsored the legislation creating the emergency bridge grants, said.
The Bridge Fund uses the final $20 million from the city’s federal Cares Act funding and $80 million from a local contingency reserve.
The city has lost more than 56,000 jobs since the pandemic hit, and behind the numbers are real people, many of them struggling.
Destination D.C., the city's official travel and marketing organization, said hotel revenue is down a staggering 89%, a $1.4 billion drop from last year. Here are some more numbers on the losses, according to Destination DC:
- From March 8-Nov. 7, 2020, hotel room demand (rooms sold) was down 82%, or down 5.6 million rooms, from the same period in 2019, according to STR.
- Destination DC is seeing an economic impact loss of $521.4 million over this year and next from 49 conventions and large-scale events that we’ve booked that have canceled.
- $369.8 million from 36 large-scale events and meetings in 2020
- $151.7 million from 13 large-scale & impactful groups in 2021
- Doesn’t account for meetings held inside hotels and leisure groups (and doesn’t add perfectly due to rounding)
- Visitor spending was down 80%, or $4.5 billion, for March 8-Nov. 7 compared to the same period last year, according to Tourism Economics.
- $324 million in lost tax revenue for the District
- Spending was down 94% for all of April & May compared to the same months last year, down 77% for June and July and down 72% in August, September and October.
The mayor is pleading with Congress to quit squabbling and pass a relief package.