Author: James A. Bacon
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COVID-19 Update: Mounting Toll
Here’s the latest COVID-19 data from the Virginia Department of Health based on yesterday’s developments. Total cases: 1,706, up 222 yesterday. Total hospitalizations: 246, up 38 yesterday. Total deaths: 41, up 7 yesterday. Total tests: 17,589, up 2,245 yesterday. And here, straight from Cranky’s Excel spreadsheet to you, the updated “doubling” time for key metrics:…
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Twin Tragedies: COVID-19 and the Northam Administration
by James C. Sherlock Communication in this time of crisis has not been a notable strength of either Governor Ralph Northam or his cabinet. I discovered the reason why in the Governor’s press conference today: They are clueless. The Northam administration’s online communications The state’s official website as of today has no information about the…
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Localities Are Re-Writing Budgets. So Should the State.
by James A. Bacon It is obvious to some people that COVID-19’s body blow to the economy will have a devastating impact on state/local government finances. Old Dominion University professors Ron Carlee and Robert McNab have estimated that local governments in Hampton Roads are losing at least $16 million a month in local taxes, while…
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Bacon Bits: Mobilizing Against COVID-19
NoVa field hospital sites identified. State officials have begun identifying sites to use for field hospitals in the event that an influx of COVID-19 patients overwhelm the capacity of Northern Virginia’s hospitals. The first phases of plans call for adding beds in existing hospitals or on hospital campuses. A third phase would establish new treatment…
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Federal and State Responses to COVID-19
by James C. Sherlock The federal government’s relationships with state and local governments is defined by the U.S. Constitution. Presidential management of internal national crises is constrained by lack of command authority over the states. No governor works for the President. He cannot order them to do anything, even in wartime. He can take control…
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COVID-19 Update: Hospitalizations Surge
The Virginia Department of Health has updated its statistics to reflect yesterday’s numbers. The big movers: hospitalizations and deaths, both of which surged 26%. Total confirmed COVID-19 cases: 1,484, up 234 Total hospitalizations: 208, up 43 Total deaths: 34, up 7 Total tests: 15,344, up 1,943 Here are John Butcher’s latest calculations for the “doubling”…
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Wanted: Government Informants
by Kerry Dougherty Nosy neighbors and tattletales. They’ve been with us always. And they’ve always been despicable. When I was a kid a reclusive neighbor – we’ll call her Mrs. Murphy – spent all of her time peering out of her windows. If a kid so much as planted a bare toe on the Murphy…
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Another Call for Face Masks
Should people don face masks when they go out in public? The question has caromed around the Internet with many conflicting opinions. A previous contributor to Bacon’s Rebellion has argued that Virginians should wear them. Contributor Hans Bader agrees. — JAB by Hans Bader You should wear a mask when you leave the house. In…
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Backgrounder: Virginia’s Healthcare Emergency Management Program
by James C. Sherlock State emergency operations are personally meaningful to me. Preparation is key. Decisions have consequences. I want this one to go as well as possible. I spent about a year while under contract to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as director of operations for a program that offered advanced Department…
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Note to Readers
Bacon’s Rebellion is experiencing technical difficulties — or, to be more accurate, our web server is experiencing technical difficulties. The website was down about three hours this morning, and some of the functionality has yet to be restored. The Cloud is far from perfect! We are aware of the problem, and we’re working on it.…
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Yes, Virginia Does Have a Plan to Fight the Pandemic
by James C. Sherlock I have reviewed the Commonwealth of Virginia Emergency Operations Plan, HAZARD-SPECIFIC ANNEX #4 PANDEMIC INFLUENZA RESPONSE[1], August 2012. Such plans are required by FEMA as a predicate for federal funding, so every state and territory has one. Virginia’s operations plan, which follows the FEMA template, is excellent. The lead agency for…
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Ralph Northam’s Power Play: Part Two
by Kerry Dougherty This is getting to be a bad habit. For the second Monday in a row Governor Ralph Northam kicked off the week with a heavy-handed executive order. This one was a body blow to the Virginia Beach economy. Last week the governor prematurely closed all schools – public and private – for…
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COVID-19 Update: Edvard Munch Edition
The latest data from the Virginia Department of Health indicates that Monday saw the biggest single-day increase in the number of new confirmed COVID-19 cases yet in Virginia – 239 cases, bringing the total to 1,250. The 29 new hospitalizations were the biggest one-day increase yet, bringing the total to 165. Total deaths increased by…
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Don’t Blame Northam for Virginia Medicine’s Structural Flaws
by James C. Sherlock I have to give Governor Ralph Northam a partial pass on a key issue. Much of the criticism directed at him is for actions or inactions that are based on incomplete data and, as a a consequence, incompletely informed staff assessments concerning the business of healthcare in this state. That is…
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Some Perspective
I have appended the number of COVID-19-related deaths to a ranking of the leading causes of mortality in Virginia, based on 2017 data, the most recently available from the Centers for Disease Control. The number of COVID-19 deaths will increase, of course. For purposes of comparison, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation forecasts that…