Good morning, RVA! It's 47 °F, and today you can expect temperatures in the 70s with a good chance for rain this evening. Maybe even a severe thunderstorm? Either way, I hope we get enough of a downpour to wash my neighborhood clean of pollen! It's getting ridiculous out there.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,048 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 20 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 259 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 116, Henrico: 104, and Richmond: 39). Since this pandemic began, 1,249 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state is now 1,615.
Yesterday's big vaccine news was the FDA and CDC's decision to recommend that everyone pause administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine due to six cases of an extremely rare blood clotting situation paired with low levels of blood platelets. The Virginia Department of Health followed suit as did the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts.
First, it's really important to note that this is six total cases out of 6.8 million folks who have gotten the J&J vaccine (of which I am one!). Six divided by 6.8 million is a tiny, tiny number, and you do far more risky things each and every day without even thinking about it. I know it's not quite the same thing, but it's helpful to actually see the "risk levels" of some of your day-to-day activities to put six-in-6.8 million into context. So, via the National Safety Council, here are your odds of dying from various things: lightning, 1 in 138,849; cataclysmic storm, 1 in 58,669; riding your bike, 1 in 3,825; walking around town, 1 in 543; and driving a car, 1 in 107. In fact, using bad, unscientific math that's not adjusted for anything, about 1 in 833 Virginians have died from COVID-19 over the last year of this pandemic. So while the risk of taking the J&J vaccine is not zero (although it is pretty dang close), there is definitely risk in not taking it or one of the other COVID-19 vaccines.
Second, I think the main reason for this announcement and pause is not for the folks getting vaccinated but for the healthcare providers who may need to treat this extremely rare adverse reaction. From the FDA+CDC announcement: "Treatment of this specific type of blood clot is different from the treatment that might typically be administered. Usually, an anticoagulant drug called heparin is used to treat blood clots. In this setting, administration of heparin may be dangerous, and alternative treatments need to be given."
Third, this announcement was scary! I was scared when I read it, and I'm sure lots of other folks who got the J&J shot were also scared. Walking through the above numbers helped, listening to some of my coworkers explain how this pause is a good indication that the vaccine monitoring process is actually working helped, and knowing the symptoms of this rare blood clotting situ helped, too (severe headache, abdominal pain, leg pain, or shortness of breath within three weeks after vaccination). Also, watching this soothing video of Dr. Fauci explaining everything was going to be OK also helped. So, if you're scared, I definitely get it, but, like Fauci says, "The people who have already gotten the vaccine should not be worried because...this is a very rare event."
Kenya Hunter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on Richmond Public Schools' plans for the fall, which don't surprise me. The District plans on opening up buildings for full, five-day-a-week, in-person instruction. This part was new to me, though: "RPS will not be directly providing virtual instruction for sixth- through 12th-graders who opt out of in-person learning. Instead, those students will enroll in Virtual Virginia, which is run by the Virginia Department of Education, and RPS will pay $350 per course for those students." As you'd probably guess, students will be expected to wear masks, keep their distance, do daily symptom checks—the whole shebang. This is what life will look like for a while, I think. Still, though, six hundred times better than another year of entirely virtual school, right?
Does a story about a deer pandemic make you feel better or worse? Worse, I think, right? The Virginia Mercury's Sarah Vogelsong introduces me to Chronic Wasting Disease, which "has been slowly penetrating white-tailed deer populations in the state's northwestern counties, worrying wildlife officials who know the disease has no cure but hope to contain it as much as possible." The word "zombie" appears in this article at least once.
Lucy Dacus, who is, like, an actual famous musician from Richmond, has a new video out shot in places you will definitely recognize. Great tune, too.
This morning's longread
DeSantis wants voters’ signatures to match. Would his pass the test?
I love this kind of reporting! Republicans: Just say you want fewer people to vote and stop with these stupid shenanigans.
Some election officials say limiting signature samples could make it harder to authenticate the identities of voters who choose to cast their ballot by mail. Signatures change over time, they say, and are often affected by the choice of pen, the writing surface, fatigue or a person’s health. A new requirement for a one-to-one match could lead to more rejected ballots. DeSantis’ own John Hancock has undergone a transformation during his time in government, as demonstrated by 16 of his signatures compiled by the Tampa Bay Times from publicly available sources between 2008 and now.
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