Good morning, RVA! It's 38 °F? Depending on where you live you may have even seen a bit of snow this morning?? Well, with that out of the way, temperatures should be back up in the mid 50s later this evening with the spring we know and love returning tomorrow.
Water cooler
Richmond Police are reporting that Francesca Harris-Scarborough, 31, was shot and killed on the 3400 block of Blakey Street this past Thursday. This murder brings the City's total to 15, according to the RPD.
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 6,171 positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth, and 154 people in Virginia have died as a result of the virus. VDH reports 891 cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 241, Henrico: 432, and Richmond: 175). Here's the Governor's release on that new coronavirus model out of UVA that I wrote about yesterday—which includes a link to a video of the scientists' briefing if you've got spare time this morning. The Gov says that "current social distancing efforts starting March 15 have paused the growth of the epidemic in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In this scenario, 'paused' growth means that the rate of new cases is holding steady rather than increasing." That's not what I see when I look at the graph of new cases since March 15th, but what do I know! I guess that's reassuring to hear, but I'm still concerned about how Virginians can know that the rate of new cases is "holding steady" when we're testing fewer people per capita than almost every other state (Virginia in black marked with Xs, data from The COVID Tracking Project). Again, I know almost nothing other than how to tap a few buttons on a spreadsheet, and maybe over the next few days we will start to see the amount of testing go up while the number of reported positive cases remains constant. Regardless of whether the Commonwealth has paused the spread of the virus or just slowed it down, the Governor still—and rightly—cautions against lifting social distancing restrictions too quickly. No one's trying to have a second wave of infections. This is in direct opposition to whatever nonsense the federal government is getting ready to recommend according to the Washington Post. Also: If anyone knows anyone at UVA's Biocomplexity Institute, tell them to publish a CSV of their model's predicted new cases each day. I want to make a graph of predicted vs. actual!
The Mayor also gave a briefing yesterday, and you can watch the video here. For whatever reason, for me, it was nice/reassuring to hear his voice? I didn't expect to feel that way, but maybe you will, too! The Mayor says that, in Richmond, Black folks make up a disproportionate number of positive coronavirus cases when compared to White folks (62% vs. 24%). For context, in 2016, Black people made up just 57% of the population of the City. Dr. Danny Avula, from the local Health District, was also on hand and says they'll create some walk-up (not drive-through!) testing sites at lower-income housing neighborhoods maybe as early as next week. Says Dr. Avula, "We’re looking at two populations—residents of long-term care facilities and un- and underinsured people of color throughout our community." Samuel Northrop at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a written recap of the briefing if you're not feeling the video.
Michael Martz and Sabrina Moreno, also at the RTD, continue their reporting on the Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare Center in western Henrico. 45 people have now died at the facility, and while officials think they've "overcome the crest," they still expect more folks to die in the coming weeks.
Richmond Public School seniors now have free laptops in hand! On Friday, the District will begin distributing laptops to 9th, 10th, and 11th graders, then, once they get through high schoolers, they'll move on to the middle and elementary school students. Superintendent Kamras has some more details in yesterday's email (including where to sign up if you or yours needs a laptop).
Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense says Henrico County plans on cutting 7% of their proposed budget for this coming year. That's almost $100 million and a greater percentage cut than the 5% cut proposed by the Mayor for the City's budget. That link is worth tapping on for the bizarre picture of the press conference alone.
I'm not sure what they thought would happen, but top-of-the-class Richmond brewery The Veil released a new beer yesterday and here's what the line for to-go orders looked like. I really appreciate The Veil's response, though: "In response to our overwhelming turnout today, starting tomorrow we will no longer be offering sales of to go beer at either of our tap rooms. We unfortunately can not in good conscience continue to move forward with in-person sales in a safe and responsible manner at our tap rooms. We will be moving to 100% deliveries for the remainder of the week while we work on implementing an online order system for curbside pick up." This is why folks in charge have totally legit fears of a second wave of coronavirus infections if social distancing restrictions are lifted too early!
This morning's longread
People fall off cruise ships with alarming regularity. Can anything be done to stop it?
Ha. Remember cruise ships? Turns out they were fraught with peril even pre-virus!
That a cruise passenger’s statistical likelihood of dying as a result of an MOB is very low cannot be denied. But Michael Lloyd—a former sea captain with 50 years at sea, and now a marine-safety consultant, victims’ advocate, and cruise industry critic—posited a useful thought experiment. He asked me, as a journalist covering the travel industry, to imagine what would happen if, every month, one to two people died on an airplane for a predictable operational reason, such as sustaining a traumatic head injury during turbulence due to failure to wear a seatbelt. It’s a scenario I find impossible to imagine, after years of flight-safety demonstrations, seatbelt checks, and back-of-the-seat cards.
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