Author: James A. Bacon
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Are Daily Headlines Driving the Fear?
by Larry Hincker Last year, Virginia suffered 1,800 flu deaths. So far, the COVID-19 virus has taken about 425. The 2017-18 flu season was the worst in four decades. More than 80,000 Americans died that year. What if newspapers posted a chart of flu deaths on their front page every day, like they now do…
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Virginia’s Leaders Traffic in Gloom and Doom
by Kerry Dougherty In response to a Tweet I posted last week about Gov. Ralph Northam, a local priest responded by quoting a nun who’d seen one of the governor’s press conferences and thought Virginia’s leader was in need of prayers “…that is a man without hope,” she said. Amen, Sister. Northam’s the captain of…
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About the Governor’s New Metrics…
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam presented Friday his “Forward Virginia” blueprint for reopening Virginia’s economy when the COVID-19 epidemic recedes. As Virginia sees progress in five key metrics, the Governor says, he will relax his emergency restrictions in phases. The first of four phases would allow some businesses to re-open with “strict safety…
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Hey, It Could Be Worse
Between March 4 and April 18, unemployment claims in Virginia amounted to 10.9% of baseline jobs, according to this map issued by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership. That’s horrendous, but things could be worse. The U.S. average is 14.3% — and the Old Dominion’s job loss is less than half that of Michigan’s at 23.9%.…
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COVID-19 Update: The Madness Goes On
Here, according to this morning’s Virginia Department of Health (VDH) dashboard, is an up-to-date look at new COVID-19 hospitalizations. (As always, we must be wary of weekend reporting lags, but VDH and Virginia hospitals seem to have tightened up their reporting and compiling these days, so the lag is not as pronounced as it once…
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A Quick COVID-19 Story
I needed some quarters to feed the vacuum machine at Exxon yesterday, and I got in line in the convenience mart to make change. When the guy in front of me finished his transaction, he dawdled by the checkout counter. In a bit of a hurry, I edged in closer. The guy turned around and…
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Getting to Goldilocks
by Chris Spencer The news was good overall on Friday when Governor Northam announced the creation of a COVID-19 task force and presented a preliminary blueprint for reopening Virginia.[1] Like all works in progress, both could use tweaking, but they are good starts. Let’s imagine how the task force could achieve victory. I. A Beginning…
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COVID-19 Update: Still Lots of Idle Hospital Capacity
Another day has gone by, Virginia hospitals still have abundant spare capacity to treat COVID-19 patients, and Governor Ralph Northam’s emergency decree against elective surgery continues to drain hospitals of revenue, cost healthcare workers their jobs, and delay many Virginians’ access to healthcare. The number of COVID-19 patients in hospitals (both confirmed and awaiting tests)…
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Where the Helicopter Money Is Landing
What has the federal government done to help Virginia cope with the COVID-19 crisis? The following data comes from the White House. Clearly, the decision to compile and disseminate the information was political. But the data speaks for itself. The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has obligated $200.2 million or Virginia to respond to COVID-19…
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COVID-19 Update: Hospital Vitals Still Stable
The picture couldn’t be clearer. By the most reliable metrics available — the number of patients being hospitalized, patients in ICUs, and patients on ventilators — the COVID-19 epidemic has stabilized. Other metrics gyrate wildly. The number of “confirmed cases” reported to the Virginia Department of Health surged by 732 two days ago and dropped…
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Northam to 15,000 Sick Virginians: Keep Waiting
by James A. Bacon Here’s how I was tempted to headline this post: Northam to Sick Virginians: Drop Dead But that would have been unfair. In extending his ban on elective surgery by a weeks, the Governor doesn’t want people to literally drop dead. He’s just willing to prolong their misery and uncertainty. Not to…
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Northam to Virginians in Pain: Your Elective Surgery Can Wait
by Kerry Dougherty Bad news for those living on pain relievers and waiting for shoulder, hip or knee replacements. Gov. Ralph Northam has decided you can suffer a while longer. On Thursday he announced that he was extending the ban on elective surgery from today until May 1. He first prohibited such procedures on March…
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Do Not Extend Ban on Elective Procedures, Hospitals Urge Governor
by James A. Bacon Citing ample hospital capacity and the deferral of 15,000 medical procedures each week, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association is calling upon Governor Ralph Northam to allow hospitals to resume non-emergency procedures across Virginia. “Significant progress has been made in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and treating those afflicted with the virus,”…
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Northam Is Using the Wrong Metric to Guide Lock Down
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam says he won’t begin phasing out COVID-19 lockdown measures in Virginia until he sees a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases for two full weeks. “We are nowhere near 14 days,” he reminded everyone in a virtual town hall yesterday. Here’s the rub: The Governor has no…
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Even Guam Leads Virginia in COVID-19 Testing
by James C. Sherlock Virginia trails almost all U.S. states and possessions in the percentage of the population tested for the COVID-19 virus — even as Governor Ralph Northam has made extensive testing a prerequisite for ending the shutdown. Guam has performed more tests per capita than Virginia. Among the 50 states, Virginia exceeds only…