Good morning, RVA! It's 42 °F, and chilly out. But, as promised, warmer weather returns this afternoon with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. I’m excited because we could have some seriously A+ porch-sitting weather later in the evening.
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 561 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 69 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 26, and Richmond: 8). Since this pandemic began, 1,296 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 658. The last time we had a seven-day average of new reported cases under 700 was July 11th!
Two big pieces of vaccine news this morning! The first, after all of the necessary governing bodies gave their OKs yesterday (FDA —> ACIP —> CDC —> VDH), kids ages 12–15 are now eligible to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The efficacy of this vaccine seen in these youth trials was 100%, which is a lot of percents. Parents and caregivers have three main ways to find a Pfizer jab for their tween or teen. First, check out vaccines.gov (née vaccinefinder.org) to find a list of pharmacies near you that offer the Pfizer vaccine. Be aware that just because a pharmacy has Pfizer in stock, doesn’t necessarily mean they have appointments available—this is less of a concern now given the amount of vaccine floating around, though. Second, if you have one, you can call your pediatrician to see if they’re offering the vaccine to existing kid patients. Third, you can attend any of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts’ Pfizer events. I think this age group of kids was in the unique position—and I’m biased because I have one—of being old enough to really understand the impact of COVID-19 and understand what it meant to be denied the opportunity to get vaccinated. I’m excited for them, even if the one I’m related to refuses to express any emotions about it other than a single grumpy shrug.
The second bit of vaccine news was buried in that last link—did you catch it? As of yesterday, all of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts’ vaccination events are now also walk-up events. You can see the full list of when, where, and what type of vaccine is on offer here. Just walk on up! No appointments required! For those of us, myself deeply included, who would much rather have an actual appointment time, you can still schedule yourself directly at vax.rchd.com. Remember when finding a vaccine was impossible? Now you can basically trip over them in the middle of the street!
If you’ve been following along to this year’s budget season, you know lots and lots of local budget decisions have been deferred, or at least impacted, by the potential and immediate flood of American Rescue Plan money. Yesterday the Governor and a bunch of his pals in the General Assembly released a joint statement on their “shared priorities for American Rescue Plan Funding.” This is $4.3 billion that the State plans to invest in five large buckets: public health, small businesses, workers, public schools, and broadband. It’s a lot of money and could be transformative. Also, are there actual humans out there that are calling for the state to reject this money? I had no idea. The release mentions this a couple of times: “We reject calls to refuse these federal dollars,” and “Virginia has two options: Invest these dollars in Virginia’s future, or reject them and let Congress use our dollars for some other federal purpose. We choose the future.” Also, the release ends with this sick-but-real burn: “All Republican members of Congress voted against the law, including those representing Virginia.” Michael Martz in the Richmond Times-Dispatch says that we should expect the GA to hold a special session in July to dig into what funding these priorities actually looks like.
This story in the RTD that originally ran in the Winston-Salem Journal made me laugh: Chick-fil-A limits sauces, citing supply shortage. “The company said that industry-wide supply chain issues led to to the decision to limit each customer to one sauce per entrée, two sauces per meal and three sauces per 30 count nuggets.” I’ll do the math for you: That’s just ONE sauce per 10 nuggets! Unacceptable. Additionally, in case you were worried, “Chick-fil-A said it has not been affected by any chicken shortage.”
East Enders! Tonight is your opportunity to tune in to RPS’s Reopening With Love 2.0 East End-specific community conversation. The virtual meeting kicks off at 6:00 PM, and you can find the Zoom info on the aforelinked page.
Despite all of the great vaccine news, COVID-19 testing is still important, and the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts still offer it for free every Thursday. Today’s free community testing event takes place at the East Henrico Health Department (1400 N. Laburnum Avenue) from 2:00–4:00 PM.
This morning's longread
We Should All Be More Afraid of Driving
Something like four years ago a driver ran a red light (he was playing with his GPS) and T-boned me and my son as I drove through an intersection. Everyone was fine, but I still have a lot of (what feels like) disproportionate fear and anxiety about driving. This article was hard for me to read, so, consider this your trigger warning.
Much later, I came across a study in which researchers found that almost 40 percent of people involved in car accidents developed PTSD. Symptoms: frequent, intrusive thoughts or dreams about the accident; fear of driving; feeling isolated even from close loved ones; insomnia—and intense guilt, whether the person was at fault or not. J. Gayle Beck, a psychology professor at the University of Memphis, is one of a handful of researchers who studies PTSD linked to car wrecks. Being in a serious accident, she told me, “violates our beliefs about how life should be and who we are.” We think we’re in control of what happens on the road. If we’re in control, then we must be responsible
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