Today, the chief executives of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia held a joint call to discuss the coronavirus (COVID-19) response throughout the region. The call included a push for concerted effort on testing in the region, a regional framework on business impacts, and ongoing coordinated messaging to encourage residents to be good neighbors by staying at home. The Mayor and the Governors agreed to continue to advocate for more resources and leadership from the federal government to meet immediate needs like testing supplies and direct financial assistance to cities, counties and states.
They issued the following statement:
“As leaders of the three jurisdictions of the National Capital Region, we carry a unique responsibility to keep the federal government operating. Our actions promote the health and safety of more than 360,000 federal workers who live and work across our three jurisdictions. No other region in the country bears this responsibility. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, we call on the federal government to provide additional financial support to help our jurisdictions maintain the health and safety of the region and the federal workers who serve the American people.
“The COVID-19 virus knows neither borders nor boundaries – it does not recognize state or city lines. We are working closely together to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Together, we are promoting social distancing and encouraging all of our residents to stay at home and avoid crowds and gatherings. In each of our jurisdictions, we will be enforcing crowd control measures and social distancing standards.
“We will continue to work together to keep our residents and the federal workforce as healthy and safe as possible in the coming weeks and months.”