Good morning, RVA! It's 45 °F, and while today's temperatures could hit 60 °F you should expect big rain this evening and into tomorrow morning. After that though, the weather looks pretty pleasant for a first weekend in December.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,023↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 34↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 171↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 68, Henrico: 66, and Richmond: 37). Since this pandemic began, 477 people have died in the Richmond region. Here's this week's stacked graph of statewide new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. While it looks like we've passed a peak of new cases and are headed back down the other side, I think I'll wait until the middle of next week to see where we are. The long holiday weekend just screws with the data process so much that who knows what reality looks like at the moment. Do take a minute, though, and look at the troubling number of hospitalizations—we're not too far off from where we were all the way back in April. Locally, we're seeing a reflection of the same statewide trends in case counts: up, up, up, and then down a bit. I'd wait on declaring us past the peak until next week on these, too.
Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury has a good piece today about what's driving the recent spread in COVID-19 and how the case investigation process works to help answer those questions. I'm fascinated by the work case investigators do. They're literal detectives, like something you'd find in Busytown—but, I guess, some sort of bizarro, disease-ridden Busytown. Anyway, if you ever get a call from someone at the local health district investigating a coronacase, please pick up the call and do your best to be helpful!
Oh no, this press release from the Mayor's office is terrifying: "Acting Chief Administrative Officer Lenora Reid has been hospitalized after suffering a medical event earlier this week. She is currently recovering but unable to fulfill her duties at this time." Having to deal with a medical emergency along with everything else going on in the world sounds absolutely horrible. Mayor Stoney will call Council together for a special meeting on Monday to consider a resolution appointing his Chief of Staff Lincoln Saunders as Acting CAO.
In his email yesterday, RPS Superintendent Kamras said he'll recommend that the district remain fully virtual for the second semester. Kamras lays out three reasons for this decision: 1) With case counts rising he's concerned for the health and safety of students, staff, and families—while acknowledging that in-school transmission rates are low; 2) In a survey RPS sent out a while back, 80% of staff and 63% of families (70% of Black families) said they'd prefer to remain fully virtual; and 3) There are a bunch of logistical challenges to opening to in-person instruction while still providing services for families that choose to remain virtual. Kamras then points out some of the very real impacts this choice will have on RPS students and families over the next semester and beyond. This entire email is worth your time, and, as always, I'm incredibly envious of the empathetic way in which Kamras communicates these tough decisions.
I continue to noodle on the City's process to bring a resort casino to town. I think it's helpful to clarify that before a potential November referendum, the City must select a preferred casino operator and location for said casino. This could be the Pamunkey Indian Tribe and the land they now own off Commerce Road _or_ this could be an entirely new operator and new location—like Downtown where the Coliseum now sits. I don't really want a resort casino anywhere and that includes using one as a replacement for the now-failed downtown arena project. I'm not the only one who thinks this way, either! A member of the Good Morning, RVA Slack (to which all patrons have access!), pointed out that the City has, as part of the Richmond 300 process, already asked a few folks about a downtown casino. Turns out, those folks were not stoked on the idea of plopping a casino down north of Broad Street (PDF, p. 12). Additionally, and kind of tangentially, compare and contrast the language used by Superintendent Kamras when talking about exploring year-round school to what the City uses on their Casino page. Here's Kamras: "For example, we’re looking into whether a year-round calendar might be financially possible and whether that’s something our teachers and families would be interested in pursuing. Note that we won’t make any decisions on this until late winter or early spring, as we of course want to gather a great deal of feedback." And here's the City: "To begin the competitive selection process for the operator and site for this resort casino, the administration needs your input. CLICK HERE to take this survey to make sure the Request for Qualifications/Proposals reflects your goals for a new economic development initiative." As @Kate_Howell_PHD said on Twitter, "Moving around small pieces in a decided plan isn't community engagement."
Here's this month's unemployment insurance claims graph, the shape of which I still find fascinating. The total number of claims has dropped about 26% from the end of October to the end of November. However, at 80,911 total claims, we're still seeing more than three times the number of weekly claims than we were back in March. 80,000 is a lot of folks.
The Washington Post says President-elect Biden will tap Dr. Fauci as his chief medical advisor, which feels reassuring to me. Biden also says he'll ask Americans to wear masks for the first 100 days he's in office. I don't know if he's planing (or has the authority to implement) a national mask mandate, but, personally, I think we'll be wearing masks a lot longer than just through the spring.
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This morning's longread
Verdigris: The Color of Oxidation, Statues, and Impermanence
I continue to love these color essays in The Paris Review. I guess I should just start reading that whole magazine?
And Farrow & Ball names are very, very good. Some are whimsical and child-like (like Mole’s Breath or Mouse’s Back), some are charmingly old-fashioned (Lamp Room Gray or Wavet, an “old Dorset term for a spider’s web”); a few are winter vegetables (Cabbage White, Brassica, Broccoli Brown), a few are obviously fancy (Manor House Gray, Mahogany), and many are simply obscure (Incarnadine, Dutch Orange, and Verdigris). Reading through the list reminds me of when I was a child, browsing J. Crew catalogues for overpriced sweaters, wondering what kind of woman would wear a “harvest grape” cashmere shell or a “dusty cobblestone” merino turtleneck. It has the same preppy, old money allure. A person who would paint their bedroom Brinjal (“a sophisticated aubergine”) probably spent their childhood in a house with a drawing room, summering in some coastal region I’ve never heard of, and capering about in child-size loafers. They’re a competent sailor. They have never applied for Obamacare.
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