Author: James A. Bacon
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VDH Outlines Contact Tracing Initiative
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s COVID-19 contact tracing program will be organized around case investigators, contact tracers, and regional surge teams, all of whose efforts will be supplemented by technology, said Virginia Department of Health (VDH) officials in a media teleconference this morning. VDH had 129 people doing contact tracing for infectious diseases such as…
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The Shutdown As Mass Casualty Event
by James A. Bacon More than 600 physicians have signed a letter to President Trump calling for an end to the national shutdown aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus. The letter describes the unmeasured and overlooked health consequences of skyrocketing unemployment and income loss as a “mass casualty incident.” The letter makes the…
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COVID-19 Update: Eighteen More Nursing Home Deaths
This morning the Virginia Department of Health published the following COVID-19 data based on information reported yesterday: Statewide deaths: 25 Deaths in long-term care facilities: 18 Seventy-two percent of coronavirus deaths involved patients in long-term care facilities. Repeat after me: The COVID-19 epidemic is a nursing home epidemic. The virus may propagate itself through the…
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Virginia Ranks 41st Nationally in Nursing Home Ratings
by Carol J. Bova Medicare offers a “Nursing Home Compare” website. It uses a one- to five-star rating system for four categories: Overall Rating, Health Inspections, Staffing, and Quality Measures. There is a category called Special Focus Facility for a nursing home with a persistent poor quality of care, subject to more frequent inspections and…
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2/3 of COVID-19 Deaths Yesterday Traceable to Long-Term Care Settings
According to the latest Virginia Department of Health data: 33 COVID-19-related deaths were reported May 19 and published today. 22 new deaths were reported for long-term care facilities. That’s just one day’s results. But it’s consistent with yesterday’s data. Can we agree that the COVID-19 epidemic in Virginia is, at this point in time, primarily…
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Virginia to Hire 1,000 Contact Tracers. What Will Their Priorities Be?
by James A. Bacon Virginia is committing $58 million in federal emergency aid to expand contact tracing of people testing positive for the COVID-19 virus, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The epidemic-fighting tool will be all the more necessary as Virginia eases its Vulcan Death Grip on Virginia’s economy and people begin moving around more freely.…
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Contract Killer Paroled in Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty Let’s begin today with a quiz: Where would you rather be during this COVID-19 epidemic, in a nursing home or a Virginia prison? If you said “prison” you’re right. Of course any place in the commonwealth would be safer than a nursing home. As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, the Virginia Department of…
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Jerry Falwell Jr., COVID-19 and the Insufferables
by James A. Bacon Writing for the Washington Post means never having to say you’re sorry. If you’re looking for examples, consider the case of Jerry Falwell Jr. and his decision to keep Liberty University open during the COVID-19 epidemic, even as virtually all other colleges and universities were shutting down. “This public response indicates…
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The Epidemic Is Occurring in Nursing Homes, Not the Beach
by James A. Bacon Here are a couple of data points to chew on. Yesterday, according to the latest data published by the Virginia Department of Health, Virginia recorded 27 deaths from COVID-19. Of those, 19 occurred in long-term care facilities for the elderly. In other words, 70% of the coronavirus-related deaths occurred in long-term…
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What, Exactly, Is VDEM Doing In the COVID-19 Emergency?
by Carol J. Bova The Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) is responsible for writing the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan (COVEP) which “provides the framework for how the state will support impacted local governments, individuals and businesses.” A Virginia Municipal League (VML) web page provides Virginia localities a Continuity of Operation Plan (COOP)…
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Pass the Coppertone
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach is back. Well, sort of. At his press conference yesterday Gov. Ralph Northam bent to pressure from irate local politicians, desperate resort businesses and an increasingly disgruntled public by announcing that city beaches could reopen in time for Memorial Day. “This is the tonic people need right now,” an ebullient…
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Nursing Home Data Raises New Questions about COVID-19 Policy
by James A. Bacon The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association has just published a data dashboard focusing on Virginia nursing homes. And the picture it presents is very different from that of the state’s acute care hospitals. While acute care hospitals have solved their shortages of personal protective equipment, the nursing homes have not. According…
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Could the Low Testing Numbers Be Telling Us that COVID-19 Is Receding?
by James A. Bacon Just a couple of weeks ago — under surreal COVID time, who knows how long ago it really was — Governor Ralph Northam told Virginians that he wanted to see 10,000 or more tests per day before relaxing his Vulcan Death Grip on the state economy. With the exception of a…
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Pictures Don’t Lie. Or Do They?
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach is dancing a weird waltz with the governor. Privately, city officials and local businessmen express fury over Ralph Northam’s capricious decision to ban sunbathing on the beaches. Publicly they’re groveling, as they beg him to reopen the sand before the tourist industry is a smoking ruin. No one will want…
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Tuition “Freezes” Really Aren’t Freezes in a Deflationary Economy
by James A. Bacon Wow, the James Madison University board of visitors voted Friday to keep tuition charges flat for in-state and out-of state students. The action follows decisions by the College of William & Mary, Virginia Commonwealth University and Christopher Newport University to freeze tuition and fees next academic year. “The action taken today…