in the district, bringing the total number of positive cases to 31. the patients were all male and between the ages of 23 and 61. the 23-year-old patient was confirmed to have attended the conservative political action conference (cpac) in national harbor, maryland. on march 18, at least 8 more cases were found, including a dc fems employee (leading to a quarantine of 73 firefighters), a u.s. marshal at the superior court of the district of columbia, and an undergraduate student at the george washington university who lives off-campus. the metropolitan police department of the district of columbia announced new social distancing precautions in dealing with callers reporting flu-like symptoms as well as changes to police protocol for citations and warning notices in light of the restriction of certain services in the d.c. government. march 19–20 as of march 19, the number of confirmed cases sharply jumped to 71 as the supply of tests was expanded, an increase of 32 over one day. this includes two more dc fems members and an eight-year-old. the same day, washington metro closed the smithsonian and arlington cemetery stations until further notice. metro ridership reduced by 85% due to the pandemic, leading to general manager paul wiedefeld submitting a request to congress for emergency funding. on march 20, mayor bowser announced the first death related to covid-19 in the district, a 59-year-old male, deacon brother john-sebastian laird-hammond, ofm, a franciscan friar and permanent deacon, a native of minonk, illinois, with underlying medical conditions, specifically a multi-year battle with a type of leukemia who had been undergoing cancer treatments and was therefore more vulnerable to the virus. the number of cases rose to 77. dcps extended the school shutdown to april 24, meaning classes would be scheduled to resume on monday, april 27. in preparation for the beginning of distance learning on march 24, the dcps distance learning platform was released, publicly accessible at dcps.instructure.com/courses/179580. certain schools would continue to provide lunch on weekdays. march 21–22 on march 21, the d.c. government, operating through the metropolitan police department and the national park service announced several road closures around beginning on march 22, 7:00 am to 8:00 pm, in an effort to reduce congregation of tourists around monuments during the national cherry blossom festival. these crowds had not been conforming to social distancing guidelines and thus presented a possible vector for the transmission of coronavirus. the dc department of parks and recreation closed all of its facilities including parks, playgrounds, and athletic fields. only dog parks remained open. the same day, metrobus announced reduced operation from 325 routes to only 20 high-use corridors. real-time bus data would no longer be available and drivers may bypass stops in order to observe social distancing guidelines on buses. wmata said it hoped to restore some routes with limited operation hours soon. real-time bus data would be restored on june 28, 2020. the number of cases as of 7:30 pm that day was 98. on march 22, the second death due to covid-19 was reported in the district, a 65-year-old woman with underlying medical conditions. the number of cases as of 7:00 pm that day was 116. march 23–24 on march 23, mayor bowser and chief financial officer jeffrey dewitt announced that the 2019 tax filing deadlines would be pushed to july 15, instead of the upcoming april 15. the mayor also urged d.c. residents to remain at home except for "essential activities," clarifying that she would not be issuing a shelter-in-place order as of now. on that day, mayor bowser also commissioned republic restoratives distillery and compass coffee, two locally owned companies, for the production of 2,000 us gallons (7,600 l; 1,700 imp gal) of hand sanitizer (1,000 us gallons (3,800 l; 830 imp gal) each) for use by d.c. government workers and emergency responders. as of 7:00 pm that day, the number of cases was 137. march 25 on march 25, the third death in washington, d.c., was a 75-year-old female with underlying health conditions. march 30 on march 30, mayor bowser announced a stay-at-home order that would go into effect on april 1. the order stated that residents may only leave their residences to engage in essential activities, including obtaining medical care that cannot be provided through telehealth and obtaining food and essential household goods, to perform or access essential governmental functions, to work at essential businesses, to engage in essential travel and to engage in specific recreational activities that the order defined. polish president andrzej duda was the first foreign leader to travel to the white house since the start of the covid-19 pandemic. anyone found to be violating the order would be charged with a misdemeanor and subject to a $5,000 fine and/or 90 days in prison. bowser said, "staying at home is the best way to flatten the curve and protect yourself, your family, and our entire community from covid-19." on the same day, maryland's governor larry hogan and virginia's governor ralph northam issued similar stay-at-home orders (see covid-19 pandemic in maryland and in virginia). however, the penalties for violating those orders were different from those in the district. april 2020 on april 6, bowser announced a government-wide hiring and pay freeze to ensure the district's funds are conserved. on april 17, dc public schools announced that they would remain closed for the rest of the 2019–2020 school year, with a shortened schedule ending the school year on may 29. june 2020 storefronts boarded up in georgetown in june in response to the george floyd protests during the month of june, d.c. experienced widespread protests relating to the murder of george floyd. while numbers of protesters were in the thousands, almost all were wearing masks and there was not an appreciable spike in cases that could be traced to the protests. on june 2, during some of the most intense demonstrations, some protesters were arrested and charged with "wearing a hood-mask" in addition to curfew violations, even though masks were mandatory at the time. on june 22, with the move to phase 2 of the reopening plan, indoor dining was permitted to begin at 50% capacity, although bar sitting was to remain closed. gyms were also allowed to reopen, with 5 people per 1,000 square feet (93 m2). july 2020 on july 22, washington, d.c., imposed new mask requirements. on july 27, self-quarantine restrictions were placed on non-essential travelers arriving from 27 high-risk states. september 2020