Good morning, RVA! It's 26 °F, and highs today will hit the upper 40s. We've got warmer temperatures on the extended forecast from here until Friday. Get out there and enjoy it!
Water cooler
It definitely looks like the country as a whole has passed its Omicron peak, both in cases and hospitalizations—we're still, unfortunately, waiting for deaths to catch up. The CDC says the nationwide 7-day average of new cases has dropped 19.9% since the previous seven days, and the 7-day average of hospitalizations has dropped 8.8% over that same time. Deaths, however, are still rising, and have increased 25.1% over the past week and have now passed this fall's Delta peak. I think we can see the light at the end of this wave, though. In Virginia, we're experiencing the same trends, if a little delayed from our northern neighbors, with the number of hospitalizations and deaths dropping—or at least seriously plateauing. Despite decreasing numbers, there's still a lot of disease floating around in our communities! If you haven't yet gotten vaccinated or boosted, just look at these graphs of hospitalizations by vaccination status and go get your shot today!
In more uplifting coronanews, the New York Times reports that Pfizer could ask the FDA to authorize a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine for kids under five...as soon as today?? Remember, though, that there are a series of meetings and hoops a potential vaccine must jump through before you can stroll on down to CVS and get one, but it sounds like we're looking at end of February, early March? Those very science-y, very nerdy hoops and meetings should be interesting to watch as Pfizer hasn't changed anything about the vaccine since last we spoke of it when "among children ages 2 to 4, the [immune] response was less robust." What has changed, though, is: "The setback prompted the companies to test a third low dose of the shot in young children. Rather than wait for those results, federal regulators took the unusual approach of encouraging Pfizer to apply for authorization for a two-dose regimen to begin protecting children from the Omicron variant and other possible subsequent mutations..." I think the scientists will have thoughts on this strategy! There's a real complicated tension between demonstrably less protection in kids aged 2–4 and more delays before any vaccine is available for them at all.
Anna Bryson at the Henrico Citizen reports on the very, very small number of Henrico families not complying with Henrico County Public Schools' mask mandate. From the piece: "Of the small group of families who are refusing to have their children wear masks, most are at Deep Run High School. A group of 13 Deep Run students whose parents would not let them wear masks last week completed school work from the auditorium, according to students and teachers." Deep Run High School sits just north of the Short Pump Town Center in the far western part of the County. I love this quote from a Deep Run student, "We’ve worn masks for half the year now, I think we can all survive and wear them for the rest of it."
Richmond BizSense's Jonathan Spiers has a great What's Next piece on the recently-passed City Center plan. I am very, very happy that the City ended up bailing on Navy Hill and the plan to bring a new arena to downtown and has, instead, decided to build a thriving neighborhood in its place. I had no idea that solicitations for tearing down the Coliseum will go out this year! That's awesome. Between this and the Diamond District, the City's Planning Department has some really exciting projects in the works.
Michael Martz at the RTD reports on the unsurprising work the House of Delegates' Republicans are doing to make rich folk richer. The story is mostly a "yeah, yeah, we know," but I absolutely love Martz's lede: "Democrats now in the minority in the House of Delegates have discovered a form of tax relief that Gov. Glenn Youngkin doesn’t support — one meant to directly benefit low-income working families." I can definitely get behind reporting that avoids hollow both-sidesism and just puts plainly what our elected leaders are up to.
This morning's patron longread
Here’s Why You’re Wrong for Supporting Either In-Person or Virtual School
Submitted by Patron Brandon. This is from McSweeney's, but sure feels like both versions could have come from The Atlantic.
The science could not be more clear on this. There are millions of children who [STILL CANNOT GET VACCINATED/HAVE ALREADY SUFFERED FROM YEARS OF ISOLATION]. If we wait just a little longer to bring our kids back to classrooms, they’ll be dramatically more [SAFE/STUNTED]. How can you live with yourself, knowing you have absolutely no regard for the [PHYSICAL/MENTAL] health of our youth? And what about the loss of learning? Have you considered the long-term implications of [SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS TEACHING THE ROCK CYCLE/LEARNING ABOUT THE ROCK CYCLE WITH VIRTUAL ROCKS]? It’s truly disquieting to see how far we’ve fallen from the flawless status quo that the American public school system was enjoying in 2019.
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