Good
Afternoon Friend!
Only half of District residents
have gotten at least one COVID-19 vaccination shot, according to the
most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control. Even if you
take out all the kids who have not been eligible for the vaccine
(emergency approval of the Pfizer vaccine happened earlier this week
for 12 to 15-year-olds), that still leaves nearly 40 percent of
District adult residents unvaccinated.
Does that percentage surprise
you?
I ask, because a number of
residents who email me or who have requested meetings with me say they
don’t know anyone who hasn’t
gotten at least one vaccination shot. And I believe them. But the data
shows that nearly four out of ten District adults have not gotten even
one shot, even though the supply of vaccine is plentiful, there are
walk-in clinics, and many opportunities day and night to get protected
against this virus.
The pandemic has put a bright
spotlight on how in a city of less than 69 square miles, we can live
vastly different lives and often not realize it. And this puts us in a
predicament in crafting public policy for the greater good of all
District residents, if we consider the District of Columbia a
community as a whole. Because in some parts of our city, almost
everyone is partially or fully vaccinated. Residents are eager to take
off masks, get a cocktail at a bar, and see a show at the Kennedy
Center or 9:30 Club -- and those businesses are eager to have them do
it. In other parts of our city, residents are eager to get back to
pre-pandemic life as well, but not everyone in their neighborhood or
social circle has gotten vaccinated. So taking off a mask, going to a
bar, and seeing a show can have deadly consequences.
On Monday, Mayor Bowser announced
that almost all public-health-related restrictions will be lifted in
less than two weeks. By June 11, pre-pandemic life will return: Bars
will be open, Capital One Arena can be sold out for (hopefully)
playoff hockey and basketball, and we can stand awkwardly close to
random people once again. I have more information and infographics
explaining the new rules below. But I will admit that the complete
lifting of public health restrictions is worrisome to me.
Perhaps it comes down to the term
“community spread”: What community are we referring to? If COVID-19
remains a threat to the health and safety of residents in certain
parts of our city but not other parts, is that a successful approach
to stemming the virus? Data has shown that Black residents in our city
have died at a much higher rate from COVID than white residents, and I
am concerned this trend will exacerbate if we let down our guard and
take a community posture that the threat of COVID to health and safety
is over. As well, I am concerned that very rosy data showing the virus
curbing has since been shown to have errors: Numbers are still
trending downward, but not as robustly as the erroneous data led us to
believe.
These are not easy decisions, and
we need to take them on thoughtfully and judiciously.
Other big decisions are on the
horizon: In two weeks, Mayor Bowser will present her budget to the
Council, which will set off a two-month review process. This will be a
pivotal budget for our city: We have the opportunity with this budget
to move in a different direction and become a more just and equitable
city. It is up to us.
More information below.
Take care,
Elissa.
Top Questions of the Week
D.C. Reopening
Is it true that bars will be open soon?
Mayor Bowser announced a number of
big changes earlier this week: She is lifting capacity restrictions on
restaurants, retail, schools, and childcare facilities on May 21. And
on June 11, D.C. Health will
remove capacity limitations even on bars. The D.C. government is
opening up as well -- by July 12, D.C. government employees will be
required to be working in new in-office work schedules. (Click on each
slide to see larger versions.)
My neighbor still hasn’t gotten vaccinated. Where can I
tell her to go?
Even though our city is opening up,
only about half of our residents are partially or fully vaccinated.
This is worrisome for me -- if you haven’t already done
so, please get vaccinated! It
is now much easier than it was at the beginning of the
year.
As I mentioned in my last
newsletter, as of Saturday, May 1, the District transitioned to the
use of 12 high-capacity, walk-up, no appointment needed vaccination
sites. When you receive your first dose, you will make an appointment
to get your second dose. If you have already received your first dose
outside of the District, the clinics are now providing second doses
too -- just make sure that the site you go to is giving out the
vaccine that you received initially (i.e., Pfizer or Moderna). The
walk-up sites are operating in addition to the pharmacies, clinics,
and healthcare providers that are also administering the vaccines
citywide.
If you can’t leave your home, call
1-855-363-0333 to arrange a vaccine to come to you. For any questions
regarding the vaccine program, you can email [email protected].
And there’s more information at https://coronavirus.dc.gov/vaccinatedc, including how to schedule vaccine
appointments at pharmacies and health centers.
I heard Pfizer approved vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds.
Where can they get a shot in DC?
The city is preparing to
offer walk-up vaccinations to 12 to 15-year-olds soon and is working to determine which
sites will open to them. Shots could begin very soon, after a federal
vaccine advisory committee issues recommendations on using the Pfizer
vaccine for this age group. An announcement is expected this week.
In the meantime, you can
pre-register children 12 or older at Children's National Hospital.
Click
here to sign up on the invitation waitlist and
Children’s will reach out when they’re eligible.
16 and 17-year-olds can now get vaccinated at walk-up sites and pharmacies across DC that are
administering the Pfizer vaccine. The six walk-up sites that are
administering Pfizer are: Arena Stage, Fort Stanton Recreation Center,
Lamond Recreation Center, Langdon Park Community Center, Rosedale
Recreation Center, and RISE Demonstration Center.
Do I still have to wear a mask if I am
vaccinated?
Here’s a helpful graphic to answer
this question.
What help is available to our restaurants?
You might have seen the news that
President Joe Biden visited Las Gemelas at Union Market on May 5 to
pick up quesadillas and tacos. Along with picking up food, he was
there to highlight the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. This is a new
federal Small Business Administration program that will provide
emergency assistance for eligible restaurants, bars, and other
qualifying businesses impacted by COVID-19.
Qualifying businesses include: food
trucks, caterers, bakeries, brewpubs and breweries, wineries, inns,
and licensed facilities where the public can taste or sample products.
For more information and to apply, click here for English or here for Spanish. You may also call 1-844-279-8898, Monday through
Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Unemployment Compensation
What about help for those still not working? Why is DC’s
unemployment system so messed up?
Many of our workers collecting unemployment benefits -- or trying
to collect unemployment benefits -- are frustrated, confused, and
angry. So am I.
Today I am co-chairing a hearing with my at-large colleague Robert
White, who heads the Committee on Government Operations and
Facilities, on Unemployment Insurance During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
It is a mess, and unless I am persuaded otherwise, I’ll be
using whatever legislative tools I have to work on a complete overhaul
of the UI system.
Last week, nearly 40 people took time out of their day to describe
their experiences with the D.C. Department of Employment Services
(DOES). I appreciate all of the witnesses who provided very candid
accounts of this difficult time in their lives. The point of the
hearing was to identify patterns of problems with the unemployment
system so that we can show DOES that these are not individual
problems, but systemic. Several people brought up snags they’d had
when they claimed out-of-state wages; many people encountered problems
when the system had to be updated to account for additional federal
benefits; and almost everyone said that communication from DOES was
sorely lacking – both in advance of anticipated changes and after
obvious problems.
I have repeatedly pressed the
administration to provide DOES with whatever resources it needs to
quickly move through unemployment claims, and have been told by DOES
that it doesn’t need anything else. But clearly, the system isn’t
working, and our workers deserve better. People shouldn’t have to
contact councilmembers to get their cases resolved. I agree with those
who testified that a major part of the problem is communication
between claimants and DOES as well as inadequate training for
call-center staff.
Several people testified that they
want to see DOES audited, so I’m pleased that the DC Office of the
Inspector General announced that it will be doing an audit of DOES’
unemployment compensation program.
The hearing on May 5 was for public witnesses, and today, May 12,
we heard from DOES Director Unique Morris-Hughes. I will go into what
happened at the second part of the roundtable in my next
newsletter.
Comprehensive Plan
What the heck is the Comprehensive Plan and why do people
on my neighborhood email group care so much about it?
The Comprehensive Plan is the
land-use roadmap for the city. More broadly, it is a 20-year framework that guides future
growth and development in D.C. Originally adopted in 2006, it was
first amended in 2011. In 2020, Chapter 2, the Framework Element, was
amended again. The Comprehensive Plan addresses a range of topics that
affect how we grow and live in our city. As well as land use, these
topics include economic development, housing, environmental
protection, historic preservation, transportation, and more. Given how
our city has changed since 2006, it’s important to amend the
Comprehensive Plan to reflect today’s city from the perspective of
housing, equity, resilience, and public resources -- especially as we
recover from the pandemic. The D.C. Office of Planning uses the
Comprehensive Plan to evaluate projects, developers use the
Comprehensive Plan to guide their proposals, and community groups use
the Comprehensive Plan to hold the D.C. government accountable. The
Office of Planning has pulled together more information about the
Comprehensive Plan here.
OK, so why did you end up voting
for the Comprehensive Plan during
the legislative meeting on May 4 -- when it came up before, you voted
"present"?
At the Committee of the Whole two
weeks ago, I voted present on the Comprehensive Plan because I wasn’t
confident I could vote yes. Among the reasons I was reluctant is that
I had a 1,500-page document before me that I hadn’t had time to even
skim; what I did thoroughly read was an assessment from the Council’s Office on Racial
Equity that said the
version before us would do little more than maintain the status
quo.
We know what happens if we continue
the status quo: We will remain on the course of being a racially
inequitable and divided city. That is unacceptable.
The Comprehensive Plan can be a
powerful tool to make our city more equitable and fair, and even an
amendment change can’t be a missed opportunity to do better. Along
with other councilmembers, and informed by various voices from around
the District, my office pushed to make the Comp Plan more specific
about how our land-use will enable racial equity, by intentionally
incentivizing affordability in high-cost neighborhoods and putting
anti-displacement protections in place for low-income residents who
will see their low-density communities redevelop. I was also glad to
see language strengthened and become more intentional about affordable
housing, acknowledging that 80% of what’s known as Median Family
Income or MFI is not affordable for many Black families in our city,
given the wealth gap between Black and white households.
We started with a Comprehensive
Plan update that mainly focused on meeting the Mayor’s housing goals.
But we now have a Comprehensive Plan that helps us avoid the mistakes
of the past that have displaced many Black and Latino families who
like all of us want affordable, safe housing but don’t want to leave
their neighborhood to achieve that. I hope with this land-use approach
they can stay and thrive, but it’ll take much more work over the years
ahead to make that a reality.
Thank you for reading! Have questions or need to get in
touch? Reach us at [email protected] or
202-724-7772.
Councilmember Elissa Silverman
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