“People are very comfortable with becoming relaxed when they attend gatherings hosted by their friends and family,” says D.C.’s health director.

Alex Lourie / WAMU

D.C. has released new data that show what people were doing in the days before they got a COVID-19 diagnosis — or at least what they said they were doing.

City contact tracers interviewed 374 people who received positive tests from October 2 to 8 and asked what moderate- to high-risk activities they participated in during the two weeks before their onset of symptoms or test date. Notably, they could have participated in more than one such activity during that time.

Roughly a quarter of the people said they had attended social events of more than five attendees, DC Health director LaQuandra Nesbitt said Wednesday.

About 22% of the people reported that they had showed up at work (health care facilities were the most common workplaces), while 21% had patronized restaurants and bars, the data show. More than 17% said they had traveled outside of the D.C. area.

About 6% said they had gone to faith-based events, like worship services, according to Nesbitt. Another 6% reported some sort of personal care activity, like going to a nail salon or the gym. None of the categories distinguished between activities that took place inside or outside (contact tracers don’t always ask).

City health officials say all these activities can pose elevated risks for contracting COVID-19 as people may be within 6 feet of each other for extended periods of time.

Specific patients may account for multiple categories: A person could have gone into work and also attended a birthday party, for example. About a quarter of those interviewed said they had only done one such activity, 15% said they had done two, and 9% had done three or more.

About half of the people said they hadn’t done any of the activities considered especially risky, although they could have done less-risky things, such as going to the grocery store or hanging out with a small group of friends.

Meanwhile, 60% of the interviewees who said they’d attended social events reported that people at those events weren’t consistently adhering to social distancing guidelines or wearing face masks, per Nesbitt. About 20% of these events were said to have had more than 20 attendees.

“People are very comfortable with becoming relaxed when they attend gatherings that are hosted by their friends and family,” Nesbitt noted at a press conference. “We want people to still recognize the importance of maintaining social distancing and wearing a mask any time you are with people [who] are not part of your household, even if they are relatives and close friends.” She added that those same guidelines apply to the workplace.