Good morning, RVA! It's 32 °F, and today looks like a bright and sunshiney day. Expect highs in the mid 50s and a brief but full sense of wellbeing.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 4,561 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 84 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 391 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 126, Henrico: 171, and Richmond: 94). Since this pandemic began, 599 people have died in the Richmond region. That's two straight days with new case numbers under 5,000—which is "good"—but, as per always, Monday and Tuesday case count numbers are typically lower than the rest of the week. Check back tomorrow to see if this mini trend holds. As for hospitalizations and deaths, both have increased at a pretty steady rate since at least November with a few peaks and troughs along the way. Yesterday, the state posted an especially dire peak and reported 84 deaths—the most ever in a single day. The seven-day average of coronavirus deaths in Virginia has hit 40.9, and at this rate, using more Stupid Math, now tops this list of leading causes of death in Virginia. Locally, we've seen 99 people die from this disease since December 11th. That's a dark set of sentences, but they're important, and I hope they inspire you to think more about Swiss cheese and how you can add on a couple additional layers of mitigation strategies to keep you and yours safe.
As the virus continues to burn through our communities, and with no new guidance from the Governor or President (scoff!), local institutions are left to figure it out for themselves—which, honestly, has been the story for most of the pandemic. Yesterday, VCU announced that they'll still begin the spring semester on January 25th, but they're moving almost all classes virtual. As far as I can tell, UR is still heading toward an in-person semester, but look at their process for moving into the dorms. Probably seems normal for students at this point, but, dang. Henrico County Public Schools pushed their in-person start date back again, to "some point in February" although Tom Lappas at the Henrico Citizen says there's some confusion about why. Then, down in Chesterfield, their School Board just voted to bring elementary school students back on February 1st, reports Jessica Nocera in the Richmond Times-Dispatch. As you can see, everyone's doing their own thing, which sounds suboptimal to me. That said, I really do believe everyone's doing their best to balance one hundred and one simultaneous terrible consequences while trying to chart their own best path forward. It's complicated, and it sucks.
Here's a fun opportunity—fun, I guess, if you're the type of person that subscribes to this email. In his latest newsletter RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras says that they just learned the District will receive $54.6 million from the latest federal stimulus package. They can spend it kind of however they want, but it is one-time money so probably best not to hire new folks or create new on-going programs. Here's the fun part, to quote from his email: "On Tuesday, I'm scheduled to present a draft budget for the 2021-22 academic year to the School Board. As you can imagine, today's news has prompted me to rework a few things. As I do so, I'd love to hear from you. Put simply, knowing everything outlined above about how the stimulus can be used, what would you prioritize for next year? Feel free to email me at <jkamras@rvaschools.net data-preserve-html-node="true">!" Selfishly, I want to suggest renovating the basketball and tennis courts between Henderson Middle and John Marshall High. But, honestly, you could probably dump the entire $54.6 million into capital projects to make our school buildings more hospitable to students (aka $54.6 million of boring but critical HVAC work).
The General Assembly kicks off their 2021 session today! It's that time of year where I valiantly attempt to understand how state government works, get overwhelmed, give up, and feel bad about myself. Hooray! To get me through it, I will lean heavily on the work of folks like Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury, who's got a good piece today on the Democrats' legislative priorities. Related to the session's kickoff, Michael Martz at the RTD says the Department of General Services denied some permits for Lobby Day (this coming Monday) and will "close Capitol Square in the coming days as we take steps to secure the grounds." The Governor will deliver his State of the Commonwealth Address tonight at 7:00 PM, and you can probably stream it from any of the local news stations.
Whoa: The James River Park System hit 2 million visitors in 2020. JRPS is so dang rad, and we are lucky to have it. I hope the City will use these massive turnout numbers as reason to increase funding, staff, support, or whatever else Parks & Rec feels like they need.
Remember! The House will introduce—and probably vote on—Articles of Impeachment today. By this evening we could have a twice-impeached president. As this process hurtles forward, more and more Republicans have started to come out either in direct support of impeachment or at least in support of the process.
This morning's longread
The Debate About School Safety Is No Longer Relevant
Another article in The Atlantic by local Elliot Haspel. This one brings up an interesting question: Are we even having the right discussions about reopening schools? Good context for some of the paragraphs above.
The reason for the shortages isn’t intransigent teachers’ unions or unreasonable fear; it’s simply that the virus is too widely spread. Upwards of 200,000 new COVID-19 cases are reported most days, and Anthony Fauci recently warned that January numbers will likely look even bleaker. The new viral variant, if it takes hold in the U.S., may worsen matters further. With so much spread, a significant number of teachers, nurses, bus drivers, food-service workers, custodians, and other staff in any given district will inevitably catch COVID-19 or be exposed, week after week. That’s bad enough on its own, and depending on a district’s particular policies for quarantining contacts (for instance, whether everyone in a building with a positive case must isolate, versus only those who had direct contact with the infected individual), a further multiplier effect can exacerbate the consequences for staffing.
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