D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser defended her trip to Delaware on Saturday to congratulate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on their election victory, despite District health officials considering it a high-risk state for coronavirus exposure.
“I do a lot of things to advance the interests of the District of Columbia,” Bowser said Tuesday at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Shepherd Park Community Center in Ward 4. “And some of them are formal, and some of them are informal, but all of them are necessary.”
Delaware is one of 42 states currently on D.C.’s high-risk state list. The mayor’s travel advisory says D.C. residents who have traveled to one should limit daily activities and self-monitor for 14 days. It went into effect Monday, but exempts essential travel.
Dc @MayorBowser & staff attended @JoeBiden victory speech in Wilmington, DE Saturday. Delaware on the Mayor’s list of “High Risk” states which would require quarantine after returning. Bowser staff says the trip was “essential travel” exempted under Mayor’s order. @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/GOAdajeENp
— Mark Segraves (@SegravesNBC4) November 9, 2020
“I am regularly tested, and tested according to my levels of exposure and doing my job,” Bowser said, adding that events like the one she was at Saturday are “different” during a pandemic.
“There’s no celebratory party, there is no reception or greeting line, that just doesn’t happen,” the mayor said. “I congratulated the people that I saw.”
Bowser said she has spoken with Biden’s transition team and stressed the importance of developing a relationship with the incoming administration.
“The new president is our neighbor, and I will be his mayor while he’s here,” Bowser said. “And there are special events that our city supports with the federal government. And so building relationships with the new team is going to be important for all of us.”
