WASHINGTON — Over the last month, towers have been going up along the National Mall and near the Capitol that is fenced off in certain areas.
Those newly placed towers have had people on social media and those out walking the mall asking what they are and what are they doing here.
“I have no idea what that it is. It looks like some type of radar or it's detecting something,” Simen Ng said Friday morning while out on the Mall. “I have no idea what that is.”
According to a tweet from FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr those tall towers are called COWS, Cells on Wheels, and are temporary sites that add capacity and boost cell speeds. Carr said on Twitter they are popping on across the National Mall and Capitol ahead of Inauguration Day.
Carr said COWS and sometimes COLTS, Cells on Light Trucks, are brought in when more people are expected in a certain area than the normal and permanent network is designed to handle.
He added in a tweet to WUSA 9’s Adam Longo the set up appears similar to past inaugurations, adding he wasn’t sure how COVID-19 related crowd numbers were factored in.
The 2021 Inauguration is set to be a more virtual event. President-Elect Joe Biden's Inaugural Committee said in a statement, "The ceremony's footprint will be extremely limited, and the parade that follows will be reimagined."
However President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris plan to take their oaths outside of the U.S. Capitol building.
Instead of packing the National Mall, the Presidential Inaugural Committee is urging the public not to travel to Washington, D.C. for the event, but to instead participate from home.
The committee says Biden's inaugural address will "lay out his vision to beat the virus, build back better, and bring the country together."
"Our goal is to create an inauguration that keeps people safe, honors the grand traditions of the Presidency, and showcases the Biden-Harris Administration’s renewed American vision for an inclusive, equitable, and unified citizenry,” PIC CEO Tony Allen said in a statement.