D.C.’s mayor said she agreed with President Donald Trump’s framework in reopening the economy but wants residents to understand what has to happen before she would consider it.
The mayor’s department of health team has been in conversations with the Trump administration and has reviewed the plan to reopen the country by city and in phases.
“We feel like it is a good framework and in line with what our thinking was in how to get through these phases,” Bowser said during a news conference Friday.
Certain criteria must be met before the city could even consider reopening, said Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, the D.C. Director of Health.
“In order to enter even into phase one, a community must be experiencing a decline in cases observed over a two-week period,” Nesbitt said.
Bowser announced she’s forming a working group to see how the city can improve and streamline some services when the city reopens, including finding more equity when it comes to health care, education and resources for underserved communities.
She plans on going into further detail about the group next week, she said.
While she did not outline the specifics of the president’s plan that align with the D.C. health department’s assessment of the city’s timeline to reopen, Bowser said she hopes the federal workforce remains at home.
“His plan continues to focus on telework as a good thing. I’m also hoping that means — and we’ll have more conversations about this with (Office of Personnel Management) — that they intend to maintain the federal government’s telework in the D.C. region,” Bowser said.
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