Washington, D.C., sees new peak in community spread of coronavirus
The D.C. Department of Health reports a new peak in community transmission Sunday which would have been its 14th day of sustained decline in community transmission required for reopening.
Washington, D.C., sees new peak in community spread of coronavirus By Sophie Kaplan - The Washington Times - Sunday, May 24, 2020 The D.C. Department of Health reports a new peak in community transmission Sunday which would have been its 14th day of sustained decline in community transmission required for reopening. Because the spike in the data was minor, the District is resetting the count in decreased community transmission to day 11 instead of restarting the count completely, DOH Director LaQuandra Nesbitt said Sunday on a press call. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced last Thursday, when the District was on its ninth day of decline in community transmission, that she would announce Tuesday her decision to possibly move the District into phase one of the reopening on May 29. When asked by several reporters if this new spike affected the possibility of a May 29 implementation of phase one, Dr. Nesbitt said she would not confirm anything ahead of the mayor’s press conference Tuesday. To determine community transmission declines, DOH monitors data reflecting date of symptom onset rather than the daily report of new cases. Dr. Nesbitt said on day 12 of decrease in community transmission, the District counted 68 new cases based on symptom onset; on day 13 the number of new cases based on symptom onset spiked to 118 new cases. Health officials reset the count to day 11 because the spike was not big enough to warrant resetting the count back to zero, and they picked day 11 because there were about the same amount of new cases transmitted based on symptom onset.
