Good morning, RVA! It's 39 °F, and the rain is back. Today you can expect temperatures to stay right about where they are and a pretty good chance of rain throughout the day and into tomorrow. We might catch some sun and warmer temperatures—like, temperatures in the 70s!—later in the weekend, though.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,036 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 156 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 186 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 67, Henrico: 88, and Richmond: 31). Since this pandemic began, 881 people have died in the Richmond region. Like I said earlier this week, VDH's death data reporting issue has completely broken my Deaths Due to COVID-19 in Virginia chart, which you can see in this week's stacked graph of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. The good news that I take from these graphs, though, is that it looks like the number of people hospitalized every day across the state has finally started to fall off the plateau we'd been stuck on since early December. Locally, the number of new cases matches what we're seeing statewide: rapidly falling case counts. However! While the trends for all these numbers are good (deaths excepted, because who even knows what's going on there), the levels are still real high! Yesterday, the seven-day average of new cases in Virginia was two times higher than it was back on August 25th. So please continue to be careful, wear your mask, keep your distance, work from home if you can, and, if you're eligible, take the first vaccination appointment offered to you.
Two things to note in this vaccine update by Sabrina Moreno in the Richmond Times-Dispatch! First, she makes an interesting point about younger Latinos bearing more of the burden of this disease and how the focus on vaccinating seniors might actually be the source of some inequity. Second, Moreno reports that next week, the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts will receive 3,880 more doses of vaccine—a 62% increase!
In the General Assembly, bills can die quickly and in interesting ways. Ned Oliver at the Virginia Mercury says that last night the marijuana legalization bill hit an impasse and "at least one lawmaker privately doubted the legislation would pass. Others, however, remained optimistic even as they acknowledged negotiations had grown tense, suggesting a vote was possible as early as Friday." This is a bummer. It sounds like the House and the Senate can't agree on whether to legalize now, before regulations and a marketplace can get stood up, or legalize in 2024 after the GA has had time to figure out the details of how everything works. Unfortunately, the part-time, lightning-fast nature of our state legislature doesn't give folks enough time to work through these complex issues, and, as a result, we end up taking a long time to figure out some of the more complex bills. It's not great, and Black and Brown people will suffer the consequences of disproportionate enforcement of the current marijuana laws until the GA gets themselves sorted.
With the above caveat about bills dying in mind, Kate Masters, also at the Virginia Mercury, reports that the bill requiring Virginia school districts to "provide in-person instruction by this summer" has passed both the House and the Senate. It now heads to the Governor for his signature. I don't know that this bill has a huge impact on any of the local school districts' plans, as I think all of them are either back in-person now or plan to be by the opening of the fall school year. Of course, who even knows what the fall looks like when it comes to coronavirus, vaccination, and community spread.
The RTD's Michael Paul Williams writes about the University of Richmond's decision to rename one of their dorms from Freeman Hall to Mitchell-Freeman Hall. Both were contemporaries and newspapermen, Freeman white and Mitchell Black. The choice to keep Freeman's name at all—especially considering his pretty blatant, public, and racist views—is an interesting one. Here's a quote from UR's page about the dorm: "We will recount the history of both Freeman and Mitchell at Mitchell-Freeman Hall, documenting Freeman's achievements and dedication to the University, while also openly recognizing his racist beliefs and advocacy for segregation and eugenics. That is part of telling the full and true story. In addition, we will shine a spotlight on how Mitchell did not allow Freeman's mistaken assertions about African Americans and segregation to go unchecked — and how he embodied personally the kind of intellectual and professional achievement that Freeman believed impossible for Black people."
Duron Chavis and the ICA released the fourth episode of Black Space Matters, a video series where Chavis interviews local community leaders about food insecurity, creativity, and resiliency. On this episode Chavis talks with Michael Carter Jr., a food justice advocate and fifth-generation farmer at Carter Farms.
Finally, here's a picture of First Lady Dr. Jill Biden hanging out at Brewer's Cafe over on the Southside!
This morning's patron longread
Hockey Has a Gigantic-Goalie Problem
Submitted by Patron Susan. Worth it just for the title, but this piece is fascinating even if you haven’t thought about hockey since Sega’s most excellent NHL ‘94.
The extra two inches he’d lost from his pads, it turns out, hardly mattered. And to the extent that his splayed legs provided the shooter with an opening—“the five-hole”—he found a way to close it. His leg pads might need to be narrower, but nothing restricted their length. If he had them manufactured longer, and left them loosely attached at the top, in butterfly position, the upper part of his pads, instead of protecting his legs, would rest horizontally on the ice—and fill the five-hole. The goalies had lost the width battle and won a bigger one. And they were not yet done.
If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.
