DC Mayor Muriel Bowser restores mask mandates indoors – regardless of vaccination status
WASHINGTON - D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Thursday that mask mandates are once again in effect indoors in the nation’s capital for everyone over the age of 2 – regardless of COVID-19 vaccination status.
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The mandate will go into effect on July 31 at 5 a.m.
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The mayor’s announcement comes in the wake of new Centers for Disease Control guidelines regarding masks.
DC Health's Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt says the daily case rate has gone up five-fold since the beginning of July.
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The District is currently ranked at "substantial" for its rate of transmission as the delta variant of the novel coronavirus spread across the country.
Cases are soaring nationwide with the arrival of the variant, primarily among the unvaccinated.
The mayor says new vaccine incentives like Visa gift cards and AirPods are going to schools with 12 to 17-year-olds because they’re seeing news cases highest among five to 14-year-olds and 20 to 35-year-olds.
Bowser is also is still encouraging people to go out to their favorite restaurants as you can take the mask off inside to eat and drink.