D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has directed an additional $5,000,000 of the District’s Contingency Cash Reserve Fund to the fight against coronavirus, after declaring a state of emergency in the city.
The extra funding will be used “for the purchase of needed supplies, protective equipment, and other necessary equipment for D.C.’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19),” according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
Bowser declared both a state of emergency and a public health emergency on March 11.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in D.C., Maryland and Virginia reached 39, including 10 in the District, as of Thursday afternoon. Maryland and Virginia had 12 and 17 cases, respectively.
In a letter to the DC’s Chief Financial Officer, I requested an additional $5,000,000 of the District’s Contingency Cash Reserve Fund to use for needed supplies, protective equipment, and other necessary equipment for DC’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19). Read more below. pic.twitter.com/18Lw1nMHR1
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) March 12, 2020
The first person who tested positive for the virus in the District was a reverend at Christ Church Georgetown. It was followed by the report of a 39-year-old organist at the same church also having been infected.
The other patients are a Nigerian man in his 50s who traveled to D.C. before going to Maryland; a 77-year-old man who took part in a biotechnology conference in Boston; a 59-year-old man who traveled from a foreign country; a 58-year-old woman who attended a conference in D.C.; a 39-year-old man who traveled from another country; a 24-year-old man with no known interaction; a 59-year-old woman who had contact with an infected person in D.C. and a 69-year-old woman with no known exposure.
D.C. Health recommended that non-essential mass gatherings, including conferences and conventions, be postponed or cancelled through March 31. Consequently, the Rock and Roll D.C. Marathon and Half Marathon and 5K and the Scope It Out 5K that were scheduled to take place in March will no longer be permitted.
Georgetown Priest Who Tested Positive for Coronavirus Shook Hands with Hundreds