Author: James A. Bacon
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Is There Enough Helicopter Money to Save Higher Ed?
by James A. Bacon How much money are Virginia colleges and universities getting in federal COVID-relief helicopter dollars? More than $294 million, according to data published by OpenTheBooks in Forbes. The biggest winners are Virginia’s big public universities — George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and Virginia Tech foremost among them — but Liberty University,…
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Good Move… But What Happened to Data-Driven Decision Making?
by James A. Bacon If current trends hold, Governor Ralph Northam said in a press conference yesterday, he will allow significant relaxation of emergency COVID-19 shutdown measures by May 14. Social distancing and telework will be encouraged but not mandated. Phase 1 in the step-by-step migration back to normal will continue to ban social gatherings…
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It’s Time to Reopen the Schools
by Han Bader Several countries are reopening schools after temporarily closing them due to coronavirus. For example, Denmark and Norway have reopened their elementary schools. States in America should start reopening their schools, too. New research says that doing so won’t spread coronavirus to many adults, and it will have little effect on child mortality.…
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Will Northam’s COVID-19 Restrictions Wreck Virginia’s Economy?
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam is one of four governors in the United States to be slapped with an “F” rating by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, a think tank associated with supply-side economists Stephen Moore and Art Laffer. Northam joins Governors Phil Murphy of New Jersey, Tom Wolf of Pennsylvania, and Tony…
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Virginia, Watch the Florida COVID-19 Rollback Closely
by James A. Bacon Given the average age of Florida’s population — second highest in the nation — and the proclivity of the COVID-19 virus for killing the elderly, one might expect Florida to have one of the higher death rates among the 50 states. But, as the Wall Street Journal reports today, Florida’s death…
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COVID-19 Update: The Numbers Northam Is Tracking
In the recent past, I have been publishing COVID-19 metrics showing how Virginia hospitals had plenty of spare capacity (beds, ICUs and ventilators) to handle an increase in patients stricken by the virus. Now that Governor Ralph Northam has let his no-elective-procedures edict expire, the issue is moot. Unless we observe an unexpected surge in…
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Virginia’s Parole Board Frees Another Killer
by Kerry Dougherty Well. They did it again. Virginia’s Parole Board released another murderer. This may be the most psychotic killer yet. And, no, these hairballs are not being released because of the COVID-19 virus. The Department of Corrections is freeing non-violent criminals nearing the end of their sentences. This is the soft-on-crime Parole Board…
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Free Western Virginia from a Shutdown Designed for Eastern Virginia
by James A. Bacon The impact of the COVID-19 virus in Virginia varies widely by age and medical condition, afflicting some groups far more than others. That foundational reality gave rise to a key principle, which, I suggested four days ago, should guide Governor Ralph Northam as he deliberates about how, and how fast, to…
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COVID-19 Update: Mortalities Hit New High, Other Signs Stable
Virginia cranked out 6,615 new COVID-19 tests yesterday, according to today’s COVID-19 dashboard data dumps, getting the state two-thirds of the way toward Governor Ralph Northam’s benchmark of 10,000 tests daily before he considers rolling back any more emergency shutdown measures. The test-positive rate, another metric the Governor is watching, was 14.2%. On the disturbing…
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COVID-19 Update: The Virus Hasn’t Changed, but the Numbers Have
by James A. Bacon The biggest news in the wonky world of Virginia COVID-19 statistics yesterday wasn’t some new wrinkle in the trend lines — take a look at the chart above and you’ll see that COVID-19 usage of hospital resources continues on a stable-to-declining path — it was the Virginia Department of Health (VDH)…
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Lockdown Rebellion
This Internet meme (hat tip: John Butcher) made me laugh. The humor reflects the public’s growing impatience — dare I say agitation — at being cooped for nearly two months now. The rebellion against voluntary confinement is swelling. Over the past week I’ve observed more people walking outdoors in our neighborhood, and doing so in…
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The Shutdown and Unintended Consequences
Public policy during the COVID-19 epidemic has focused relentlessly on the number of virus infections, hospitalizations and death. Given that monomaniacal, media-driven fixation, other metrics of social health and well have been largely ignored in the debate over how rapidly to return the county back to something resembling normal. Some obvious predictions: The shutdown will…
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Why Virginia Was So Slow to Ramp up Testing
by James A. Bacon A record 15,000 COVID-19 test results were reported to the Virginia Department of Health yesterday, but until then the Old Dominion’s track record for testing the virus was just about the worst in the country. As contributor Jim Sherlock noted recently, even Guam performed more tests on a per-capita basis than…
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Needless Ban on Elective Surgery Shrank the Economy
by Hans Bader The economy shrank in 2020’s first quarter by a rapid 4.8% rate. Economists say the second quarter will be far, far worse, thanks to coronavirus. The virus’s spread triggered state lockdowns closing or restricting many retail establishments. Even before the lockdowns, fear of the virus shrank sales by discouraging people from leaving…
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VOVID-19 Update: Turning Point
by James A. Bacon Holy smokes! The latest data suggests that COVID-19 epidemic has not only peaked in Virginia but has begun receding. The contagion is not over by a long shot — we could even get a bounce back later in the year — but the trends are moving in a positive direction right…