Several of D.C.’s COVID-19 restrictions on entertainment venues, swimming pools, and museums will change on May 1, as the city continues to vaccinate more residents.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced the rollbacks on Monday, many of which increase the current capacity limits that were last adjusted on March 22. 

Starting on May 1, seated live entertainment theaters will be allowed to host events at 25% capacity — both indoors and outdoors — and live music can occur outdoors at restaurants. Recreation centers, libraries, museums, and non-essential retail will be able to operate indoors and outdoors at 50% capacity — up from the previous capacity limit of 25%.

In welcome news for swimmers, the city’s public pools will be allowed to open at 50% capacity this summer, and splash pads in the city will open with no capacity limit.

Bowser will also ease restrictions on large gatherings like weddings, graduations, and conferences. Weddings and other special events can be held indoors or outdoors at 25% capacity. A waiver will be required if the capacity would exceed 250 people. Graduations can also take place after May 1 with certain capacity limits, which will be issued later this week, according to Bowser. Business meetings and conferences can take place at 25% capacity indoors and outdoors, and will require a waiver if attendance would exceed 250 people.

Bowser provided the guidelines the city used to examine the risk of certain activities, examining factors like whether a mask can be worn throughout the duration of an activity, whether it occurs inside or outside, how long it would last, and the density of a space where an event would occur.

The rollbacks come at the city works to vaccinate hundreds of thousands of residents — albeit with technical hiccups, miscommunications, and equity problems. As of April 5, 23% of D.C. residents are partially or fully vaccinated, and the city expects to expand eligibility for the vaccines to all residents on May 1.

As the city continues to monitor its vaccine progress and case counts, Bowser says they will re-examine further easing certain restrictions. Currently, D.C. is reporting an average daily case count of 123 infections per day — up slightly from the average daily numbers the city recorded during the large decline in cases in February, after the January surge. Bowser noted that officials expect to see a slight increase or a continued plateau in cases this spring, as restrictions lift. As of April 5, the city’s average daily case count per 100,000 still remains in the “substantial community spread” zone, at 17.5.

“We know that we can expect to see some increases in cases this month, but with vaccination and continued safeguards, we expect that, later into the spring, those cases will come down,” Bowser said Monday. “We want to ask that people get vaccinated as soon as you have the opportunity, help others get vaccinated.  There’s still a lot of people who aren’t sure where to go, how to sign up, they may continue to have some concerns about being vaccinated.”