Good morning, RVA! It's 51 °F, and today looks like a lovely, not-particularly-fall day with highs in the mid 70s. Enjoy it for a bit as rain could show up in the forecast later this week.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 1,302↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 3↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 195↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 61, Henrico: 71, and Richmond: 63). Since this pandemic began, 439 people have died in the Richmond region. Over the weekend we saw our second day ever with upwards of 2,000 new reported cases. Also, percent positivity continues to creep upward statewide, hitting 6.0% yesterday. I mean! Seems like we need a change in behavior to see a change in some of these numbers, right?
As far as schools go, VDH's K–12 Schools Reporting Outbreaks of COVID-19 dashboard reports one outbreak in progress locally, at Chesterfield's Bon Air Elementary. Related, the Richmond Times-Dispatch's Jessica Nocera reports that Chesterfield will return their 6th–12th graders to in-person learning today. We'll see if having 60,000 students in school buildings leads to a bunch more cases of COVID-19 or not. Nocera says 28,600 students are already back at the moment, and, as we saw on the aforelinked dashboard, the County has one outbreak in progress with fewer than five cases. 5/28,600 is a very small—yet non-zero!—number. This is a complex conversation, and, whatever you think about kids going back to school before we have a widely distributed vaccine, the context of our current conversation must be the local coronadata...which is trending in the wrong direction.
Local election results! We don't have 'em, but the registrar says we'll learn more tomorrow. For what it's worth, VPAP has updated City Council election data as of 10:19 PM last night, and has put winner check marks next to: Tavarris Spinks in the 2nd District, Ann Lambert in the 3rd District, and Reva Trammell in the 8th District. 8th District Candidate Amy Wentz hasn't yet conceded, but the vibe of her Twitter leans in that direction, which makes me incredibly sad. Nationally, I don't have much to add. Joe Biden won the Electoral College, the popular vote, and in just a couple of months we'll have a Black woman serving as Vice President. Saturday felt pretty good!
City Council meets today for their regularly schedule meeting. At the 4:00 PM informal session they'll hear a "2020 CAFR Presentation" (PDF), which isn't the actual Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, but a presentation about that report, which should be posted to the City's website soon enough. I'm not a CAFR-reader, but I do celebrate its on-time delivery. Of note on Council's formal session agenda (PDF), which, of course, can still change: ORD. 2020-222 which would allocate funding for building a safer pedestrian crossing on Grove Avenue near St. Catherine's School, ORD. 2020-224 which would rename Confederate Avenue to Laburnum Park Boulevard, and ORD. 2020-103 the rezoning of properties around the Science Museum, Alison Street, and VCU/VUU Pulse Stations. The first two sit on the consent agenda and should pass with no issue, the latter I'm kind of surprised not to see continued until some future date—especially with a new 2nd District rep about to take over for Councilperson Gray (in whose district this rezoning takes place). Y'all already know how I feel about this rezoning and the opposition against it. If Council wants to wait until their newest members are seated to pass this ordinance, fine, but, regardless of who makes up City Council, increasing density around Broad Street in accordance with our adopted plans should be an easy vote. That it's not speaks to the reality that our local legislative body is just not very progressive—despite 82.78% of the City voting for Joe Biden last week.
I have two Richmond Public Library updates for you! First, city libraries will open back up today for limited use. Make sure you check your individual library's page to see what's exactly open and how the safety procedures will work. Second, RPL will host a conversation with National Book Award winner James McBride and poet Kiki Petrosino tonight at 7:00 PM. It's free, sounds rad, and you need to sign up ahead of time!
This morning's longread
Why Americans Have Turned to Nesting
Feel empowered to fix all of the little things that create a background radiation of annoyance in your life!
Of all the things that I’ve done to better my apartment, soothe my anxieties, or occupy my time during the pandemic, nothing has worked quite as well as replacing my kitchen faucet. The project cost $75 and took about an hour—it would have been even faster if I hadn’t needed to learn some tricks for removing bolt covers with needle-nose pliers and loosening a seized nut with a lighter. But those roadblocks made it all the more satisfying. Not only does the more functional faucet make my now-constant dishwashing less of a slog, but installing it was a reminder that there are still some problems that can be solved by one person wielding the right tool—or even the wrong one, if you can figure out the magic combination of search terms to punch into Google.
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