Good morning, RVA! It's 32 °F, and my weather app has lied to me, saying that it's snowing right now. Today you can expect pretty much the opposite: Highs in the 50s and sunshine. Good New Day weather, for sure.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 4,515 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 63 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 496 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 200, Henrico: 189, and Richmond: 107). Since this pandemic began, 634 people have died in the Richmond region. I'm still confused about the statewide case counts! The average number of new cases over the last two days is 4,521. The average number of new cases over last Monday through Friday was 4,756. Over the long weekend, though? 7,972. That seems weird, right? You definitely don't see the same weekend spike in either the hospitalization or death numbers. Anyway, none of that really matters, at least not like this 23-page PDF the Biden Administration (!) released detailing the National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness. The strategy is organized into seven broad goals, including Goal #2: "Mount a safe, effective, comprehensive vaccination campaign." I'm cautiously excited about this supporting strategy: "the federal government—in partnership with state and local governments—will create...federally run community vaccination events." Aside from needing straight up more vaccine, we also need more pathways for folks to get vaccinated—and that can't just be asking local governments, health departments, and organizations to magically do more. Also, lots of folks will have opinions on Goal #5, to "Safely reopen schools, businesses, and travel, while protecting workers," in which it specifically states that "The United States is committed to ensuring that students and educators are able to resume safe, in-person learning as quickly as possible, with the goal of getting a majority of K–8 schools safely open in 100 days." For context, 100 days from now is May 1st, just 48 calendar days before the end of the 2021 school year. Anyway, it's a good PDF and worth reading and tracking over the next couple of months. The New York Times has a summary if it's a little too early in the morning for strategy documents.
You'll want to read this story in the RTD by Sabrina Moreno about a pharmacy in Chesterfield that would have conducted a vaccination clinic for more than 400 realtors and credit union workers had either 1) Moreno not started asking questions or 2) more vaccine been on hand. The Chesterfield Health District, like most of the Commonwealth, has moved into Phase 1b of their vaccination rollout, which includes frontline essential workers, folks aged over 65, and people with underlying conditions or disabilities that increase the risk of severe illness from COVID-19. I suppose you could argue that some of those 400 employees fall into the latter two categories. There's also some statements from those involved about how maybe these 400 people would volunteer at future vaccination events, thereby making them a higher priority to vaccinate. Although: "...in a Tuesday email obtained by The Times-Dispatch, Joyner Fine Properties President John Stone did not once mention volunteer opportunities and called the event a 'part of our outgoing efforts to support your safety and well-being as an essentially designated business.'" I've got a lot of feeling about this. To be clear, this is just me speaking as Ross the Person, but individuals and institutions need to think real hard before taking advantage of opportunities like this. Our actual frontline workers—bus operators, grocery store workers, teachers, and EMS—still haven't had the chance to get vaccinated. Given the extremely limited supply of vaccine, folks need to take a minute and consider the implications of jumping to the front of the line.
Today, Council's Finance and Economic Development Committee will meet to discuss, among other things, ORD.2020-256 which would establish a Participatory Budgeting Steering Commission. Participatory Budgeting, or PB, is just what it sounds like: You, Jane Q. Citizen, participate in budgeting a chunk of the City's money on small, local capital projects across the city. We're always talking about how the City's budget illustrates its priorities. Well, PB puts those priorities right into the public's hands. The main goal of this specific ordinance is to formalize the commission that will set up and oversee the process. If you're interested in that sort of wonkery, I recommend opening up the actual ordinance PDF and reading through the staff report beginning on page nine. If you're interested but not "read through the actual ordinance PDF" interested, sit tight. Once finalized, the PB process should be open and accessible to the public—especially those that don't want to read staff reports on legislation.
Nerdy but cool: Henrico's running a broadband survey where you can complete an internet speed test to help them track gaps in the County's high-speed internet coverage. WRIC says its part of a county effort to bring broadband into communities not currently served!
Do the two, totally unrelated Cobra-based restaurants need to go fight it out in the All-Valley Karate Championships? I don't know how much more of this our streets can handle!
The Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will host a free community testing event today at Regency Square (1420 N. Parham Road) from 10:00 AM–12:00 PM. If you're in need of a COVID-19 test through the health districts, you can now register online!
This morning's longread
What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say
Here's an honest piece from one year ago about Biden's stutter that felt good to read today.
After trying and failing at speech therapy in kindergarten, Biden waged a personal war on his stutter in his bedroom as a young teen. He’d hold a flashlight to his face in front of his bedroom mirror and recite Yeats and Emerson with attention to rhythm, searching for that elusive control. He still knows the lines by heart: “Meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views, which Cicero, which Locke, which Bacon, have given, forgetful that Cicero, Locke, and Bacon were only young men in libraries, when they wrote these books.” Biden performs the passage for me with total fluency, knowing where and when to pause, knowing how many words he can say before needing a breath. This is what stutterers learn to do: reclaim control of their airflow; think in full phrases, not individual words. I ask Biden what his moment of dread used to be in that essay.
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