Good morning, RVA! It's 41 °F, and today looks wonderful. Expect sunshine, highs right around 70 °F, and even warmer temperatures over the next few days.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 884 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 16 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 112 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 50, Henrico: 51, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 1,268 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 1,154, which is certainly a precipitous drop! Is this vaccines?? If so, great, because according to a new dashboard released by VDH, 81.8% of all COVID-19 cases in Virginia are now the B.1.1.7 variant. I don't think I know enough about each individual variant to distinguish between the five of them currently tracked by that dashboard, and I hope I never need to!
Over in vaccine world, I've got this week's graph of statewide vaccine doses administered alongside Virginia's total vaccine supply. Both numbers took a hit last week, which maybe we can blame on the J&J pause. Or, maybe, we've already vaccinated most of the folks who really, really want to be vaccinated? Here's a new chart showing the number of new people each day in Virginia that have at least one dose of the vaccine. That number peaked in the beginning of April and has slowly decreased since then—no appreciable spike even after all Virginians became eligible on April 18th. Locally, though, we're still steadily marching towards the goal of having 75% of our population vaccinated. As of yesterday (and barring typos), 376,205 people in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield had at least one dose. That's 55.3% of the regional goal!
Over the weekend the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended that the Johnson & Johnson vaccine be unpaused and cleared for use by all adults. The CDC, FDA, and then VDH, all followed that guidance and lifted their pause as well, with Dr. Danny Avula saying, "The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) will follow that guidance and instruct providers across the Commonwealth that they are free to resume administering the Johnson & Johnson vaccine immediately."
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Kenya Hunter reports on this past week's protest at City Hall over the RPS School Board's decision to take over procurement and construction of their school buildings. That decision might delay the construction of a replacement for George Wythe High School and the Wythe community, including current students, are not pleased. I still don't see a great way out of this morass, but I am appreciative that the Superintendent is moving as quickly as he can given what's been asked of him.
I've got a jumbled mass of small-but-interesting City Council updates for you to parse through. First, I got the fifth Council budget work session and first amendment work session posted to The Boring Show. As promised, the amendment work sessions is very interesting and worth your time. Two main themes I see emerging from Council's conversations as they try to advance their priorities within a very tight financial window: The Affordable Housing Trust Fund needs more cash and the Gallagher compensation study for City employees (which I'd do an entire post on if I had a second) is a huge priority for the Mayor but less directly so for some members of Council. Additionally/interestingly, the coming American Rescue Plan funds, possibly over $100 million, loom quietly over this entire discussion. Personal opinion, but I wouldn't count on ARP money to fund any specific thing until we know exactly what it can and cannot be used for. Second, Council will meet today for their second amendment work session, an informal session, and a regular session. The informal session in particular has a pretty interesting agenda, with plans to discuss the American Rescue Plan funds, recruiting a new city attorney, and the "Monuments Disposition and Collaborative Process Update." Finally, Council will meet tonight for their regular meeting, and you can find their full agenda here. Of note to readers of this email, ORD. 2021-078, which will accept money for the red pulse lanes. Also interesting, ORD. 2021-088, which accepts $90,000 of coffee and cookies from Aramark Services, Inc. for Department of Fire and Emergency Services personnel. How much coffee and cookies is $90,000 dollars worth, I wonder.
Now that the first wave of Richmond's parklets are up and running, Jonathan Spiers at Richmond BizSense has pictures of each! Whoa, look at that one out front of Nile in Church Hill—now that's what I'm talking about. Plants everywhere! I have to believe that now folks can see a parklet with their own eyes, they're much more likely to advocate for one in their neighborhood.
This morning's longread
What happened to the dining room table?
This is probably a too-long piece about this history and transformation of the dining room, but, guess, what? Fascinating!
My mom is selling our dining room table. I’ve only eaten at it a handful of times in my life because my sisters and I surely would’ve made a mess of it when we were kids. Instead, our family ate in the kitchen, which also doubled as a place to do homework, or to watch something on TV when the living room wasn’t the right vibe. Over the years, our dining table became a dumping ground for assorted crap: bills, flyers from school, Amazon packages. What was the point anymore?
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