Good morning, RVA! It's 72 °F, and you can probably guess today's weather forecast: More highs in the 90s with triple-digit Feels Likes. Cooler temperatures move in tomorrow afternoon, though! A reprieve is in sight!
Water cooler
As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 165, 8, and 6.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 14.4 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 0; Henrico: 11.9, and Chesterfield: 2.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,359 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.6%, 58.3%, and 54.9% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
The conversation and coverage of the delta variant and WHO's recent decision to recommend that fully-vaccinated people wear masks indoors continues. The timing is particularly noteworthy, as the Governor's state of emergency ends tonight, which, technically, makes wearing a mask in Virginia (to conceal one's identity) illegal. Sabrina Moreno at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on a bunch of local folks' thoughts and recommendations which basically boil down to "we need to learn more, but, in the meantime you should definitely get vaccinated." Alan Rodriguez at VPM has some quotes from Dr. Danny Avula on the subject, too: "I think the context domestically — given our much higher rates of vaccination than many countries because of access and the efforts people have made to get vaccinated, paired with relatively low, or extremely low, rates of COVID — I think we can still cling to the guidance of: If you’re fully vaccinated, you do not need to wear a mask."
How cool are these massive banners hanging up on City Hall (pictured below)?? They're part of a collaboration between Performing Statistics and RISE for Youth: "The installation features two, 160ft. tall portraits of Ta’Dreama McBride and Clyde Walker made in collaboration with artist and Performing Statistics creative director Mark Strandquist. They will be installed on the north and west-facing sides of the City Hall building. McBride and Walker are both youth leaders from RISE for Youth, a state campaign that promotes the creation of healthy communities and community-based alternatives to youth incarceration." Performing Statistics will host an unveiling and rally tomorrow at 12:00 PM at City Hall, if you want to get up close and personal with the banners. Although, at 160 feet, you can see these things from alllll sorts of places! So cool.
I'm way out of the loop on the conversations around setting up our regional transportation authority, but I was poking around on the CVTA's website this morning and found this draft document of Recommended Project Eligibility for CVTA Regional Funding. I assume this is how the CVTA will decide which projects are eligible for their "regional" bucket of money, which makes up 35% of the total. You can see, just from word count alone, where this document's priorities lie: Highways, highways, highways. I don't know why any transportation authority, in 2021, is considering building new highways, but sure. It was 120 °F in Portland this week, but, yes, let's build highways to encourage development patterns that will significantly contribute to climate change. While I don't think that any new highways or highway expansions should be eligible for this money at all, I do hope that there are at least plans for the Authority to include climate impact as part of their eventual project-ranking process. But, like I said, I am way out of the loop and will try to dig through some of these PDFs to learn more.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch's Colleen Curran has all the details on the VMFA's recently announced $190 million, 100,000-square-foot expansion. It all sounds very impressive. Because I am an old person, I feel like the VMFA just wrapped up their last massive expansion, but that was, in fact, 11 years ago. "The new expansion will add a new 100,000-square-foot, five-story wing for African art, photography and 21st-century art off of the existing Mellon and Lewis Wing," plus new special exhibition space and special events space.
Via /r/rva, this list of seven booze-related laws that go into effect tomorrow (alongside the legalization of marijuana). I had no idea that the cocktails to go legislation got extended for at least another year. My household is excited to celebrate continued cheap margaritas with takeout Mexican food!
This morning's longread
Airbnb Is Spending Millions of Dollars to Make Nightmares Go Away
All sorts of trigger warnings for this piece about how Airbnb deals with sexual assaults and other horrible things that happen on their hosts' property. How companies handle "risk" is fascinating to me.
Although the settlement doesn’t bar the woman from cooperating with prosecutors, it does prevent her from blaming or suing the company. That was especially important for Airbnb because the woman wasn’t the one who’d rented the apartment, so she hadn’t signed the company’s 10,000-word terms of service agreement—another important way Airbnb keeps incidents out of court and out of the public eye. Anyone registering on the site is required to sign this agreement, which bars legal claims for injury or stress arising from a stay and requires confidential arbitration in the event of a dispute. Former safety agents estimate the company handles thousands of allegations of sexual assault every year, many involving rape. Yet only one case related to a sexual assault has been filed against Airbnb in U.S. courts, according to a review of electronically available state and federal lawsuits. Victims’ lawyers say the terms of service are an important reason.
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