From Almost 200,000 people would stream into downtown D.C. on a daily basis before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, occupying valuable office buildings and sustaining restaurants and other businesses. Patrick Thibodeau/Flickr
toggle caption Patrick Thibodeau/Flickr
In pre-pandemic times, Steven Weinstein was like hundreds of thousands of other Washington-area commuters. Every weekday, he went from his home in Centreville, Virginia, to his office at 16th and L streets in downtown D.C. He left the office a few times during the day for a cup of coffee or lunch.
All that ended last March, when the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered most offices and left Weinstein to work from home. His company offered workers the chance to come back in the summer; not many did. By the end of the year, he says, the company decided not to renew its lease.