Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an updated travel advisory Thursday requiring visitors to the District to get tested within 72 hours of traveling and to avoid travel if in contact with an individual who has tested positive for COVID-19.
The advisory, which was issued in Bowser’s situational update Thursday, also requires any visitors to the District to get tested for COVID-19 within three to five days of arrival if they are staying for longer than three days. The updated advisory, which will go into effect Monday, is set to replace the executive order Bowser issued in July requiring people traveling to the District from certain coronavirus hotspots to self-quarantine for 14 days after arriving.
The advisory states that private institutions like universities and hospitals may ask visitors about their recent travel and require a record of a negative COVID-19 test.
Individuals who are visiting from Maryland and Virginia and those who will be in the District for less than 24 hours are exempt to the advisory. Those who are coming to the District for essential work may do so before receiving the results of their second required test as long as they do not exhibit symptoms, and those traveling to the District for a family emergency or funeral don’t need to get tested prior to arriving if it would be “impractical” to do so, the advisory states.
“Traveling increases the risk of contracting COVID-19,” the advisory states. “If you must travel, limit your activities and get tested to understand your exposure.”
D.C. residents returning from Maryland, Virginia or other low-risk areas are required to either “self-monitor” for two weeks after returning and limit their daily activities or limit their daily activities until they receive a negative COVID-19 test result about 72 hours after returning.
“The requirement for residents to self-quarantine for 14 days or to obtain a negative test does not apply to those performing essential work, insofar as they are going to work, or for essential activities such as obtaining medical care, food or pharmaceuticals (only if the resident does not have symptoms of COVID-19 and has not been exposed to an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 in the past 14 days),” the advisory states.