Muriel Bowser taps Susan Rice, Michael Chertoff for task force

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has tapped former National Security Adviser Susan E. Rice and former Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to co-chair her advisory group to reopen the District amid coronavirus precautions.

Miss Bowser said Monday that she chose Ms. Rice, who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, and Mr. Chertoff, who served in the George W. Bush administration, for their national and international experience.

“A lot of people in D.C. have had this experience: I will send them a note and say, ’I have a great opportunity for you to serve your city, can I call you?’ And that’s how both of those conversations started,” Miss Bowser said at a press conference.

She added that former D.C. Mayors Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, D.C. Chief Finance Officer Jeffrey DeWitt, senior mayoral adviser Beverly Perry and Nicole Lurie, former assistant secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, will advise each of the group’s industry-focused committees.

The committees will report on May 11 its recommendations on how the District should reopen, and Miss Bowser said she will rely on D.C. Department of Health officials’ recommendations on when the city should reopen.

The 12 committees will focus on:

• Real estate and construction

• Transportation and infrastructure

• Health innovation and workforce

• Open spaces and recreation

• Education and childcare

• Restaurants and food

• Faith, arts, culture, hotels, sports and entertainment

• Small businesses and retail

• Human services, social services and health services

• Social interactions

• Government operations, public safety and criminal justice

• Equity and vulnerable populations

On April 29, the committee chairs of the advisory group will hold a virtual town hall to answer residents’ questions. Each committee will include a city health official.

In Virginia, Gov. Ralph Northam noted an increase in coronavirus cases at meat processing plants on the Eastern Shore and in the Shenandoah Valley, saying he is concerned for poultry plant workers because they are particularly vulnerable.

“About 3,000 people work in two plants on Virginia’s Eastern Shore,” the Democratic governor said Monday. “Many of them do not speak English as their first language, and the close quarters of their housing make measures such as isolation and quarantine even more difficult.”

He said he is working with Govs. Larry Hogan of Maryland and John Carney of Delaware, whose states also are seeing a rise in cases among meat-processing operations on the Delmarva peninsula.

Mr. Northam said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has agreed to deploy teams to assess the situation in each of the jurisdictions. He said a team was expected Monday in Virginia.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hogan said Maryland will open two more drive-through testing sites for COVID-19 this week at Vehicle Emissions Inspection Program (VEIP) stations in Owings Mills in Baltimore County and Prince Frederick in Calvert County.

The sites will be appointment-only for symptomatic residents who have an order from their health care provider to get tested.

Maryland already is conducting drive-through coronavirus testing at five VEIP locations — Bel Air, Columbia, Glen Burnie, Waldorf and White Oak.

Prince George’s County also has a drive-thru testing site at FedEx Field in Landover.

The Republican governor credited his recent acquisition of 500,000 testing kits from South Korea for allowing Maryland to expand its testing capacity.

“Continuing to expand our testing capabilities even further in high-priority areas, including these drive-thru sites, is an essential part of our recovery plan,” Mr. Hogan said Monday.

• Adam Zielonka contributed to this report.