D.C. restaurants can resume indoor dining at 25% capacity starting Friday at 5 a.m., says John Falcicchio, the deputy mayor for planning and economic development and the chief of staff to Mayor Muriel Bowser.
The ban on indoor dining took effect with a mayor’s order on Dec. 23 amid a spike in cases in the District. The ban was initially supposed to have been lifted last Friday, but after the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, the mayor decided to extend it a week, encompassing the Biden-Harris inauguration.
The decision clears the way for Metropolitan Washington Restaurant Week, a promotional event for city eateries that was postponed amid the initial indoor ban. It will now begin Monday, WTOP reported.
In addition, some D.C. Public Library branches shut down on Dec. 23 will begin offering services again Thursday, but the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in downtown — the main branch and administrative office of the library system — will remain shuttered, according to the library’s website.
As of Thursday, the city has reported 34,612 coronavirus cases and 864 virus-related deaths, according to health department statistics.