DC to loosen coronavirus restrictions

Washington, D.C., is loosening coronavirus restrictions on local businesses and public life, including increasing capacity restrictions for indoor dining from 25 percent to 50 percent and ending a requirement for outdoor diners to purchase food in order to be allowed to purchase alcohol.

The city will end its pre-registration and vaccination appointment systems in favor of extending walk-up vaccinations to all residents beginning on Saturday, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) announced at a press conference.

She said that District officials would open nearly a dozen walk-up vaccination clinics across the city, including clinics at the University of the District of Columbia and the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

A little more than a third of D.C.’s roughly 702,000 residents are at least partially vaccinated, according to D.C. health officials’ latest statistics released Monday. Just over 20 percent have received both doses of the vaccine or Johnson & Johnson’s one-dose vaccine.

“We have some good news in the vaccination front as well: This week we will transition from a registration requirement … to walk-up, no appointment needed. That’s beginning this Saturday,” Bowser said.

LIVE: Situational Update April 26. https://t.co/0GT4ZivCCj

— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) April 26, 2021

Prior to this week, all D.C. residents registered for vaccinations through an online portal, though walk-up appointments at mass vaccination sites were available for residents 65 or older.

Just over 1,100 D.C. residents have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic hit U.S. shores last year.