Category: Public safety & health
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Handling Threats in Schools is Hampered by Progressive Cultures and Lack of Individual Initiative
by James C. Sherlock Virginia’s school threat assessment and mitigation processes are broken, putting entire school communities in danger. The University of Virginia shootings and the rapes at two Loudoun County high schools were each preventable had the focus been on intervention by authorities responsible to do so. It was clearly not. School cultures are…
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An Open Letter to the Mayor of Roanoke
(This letter was first published by The Roanoke Star.) Mayor Sherman Lea: I called your office last week in an attempt to speak with you about the current state of affairs and my recent experiences in Roanoke City. Your secretary took my information. I asked for a return call; I’ve heard nothing from you. What…
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COVID Accounted for Half of Excess Deaths in 2020, 2021
by James A. Bacon The number of deaths in Virginia during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) was roughly 15,000 higher, or 22.5%, than would have been predicted from pre-COVID trends, according to a new report published by the Virginia Department of Health. However, COVID accounted for a bit less than half (47%) of the…
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Virginia Mental Health Services in Deep Trouble – A Survey
by James C. Sherlock Nov. 29 updates in blue. Supply cannot begin to keep up with demand. In this case, the consequences involve personal welfare and public safety. And they can be terrible in both cases. Governor Youngkin will propose to the 2023 General Assembly additional funding and policy prescriptions for the state’s mental health…
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Account for All of the Costs
by Bill O’Keefe Opposition to Dominion’s offshore windfarm has come mainly from critics who cite technology, economic, and energy-system concerns and problems. Unfortunately, these have only been persuasive enough to slow down the reckless rush by Dominion and its allies in the General Assembly to obtain SCC approval. What about the impact on human health?…
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Violence Prevention and TATs: A Dissenting Opinion
by Dick Hall-Sizemore There has been a lot of discussion on this blog about violence prevention committees and threat assessment teams (TAT). There have been disagreements over whether the University of Virginia is in compliance with state law as well as lamentations about the lack of enforcement where it is considered that an institution is…
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Virginia Should Enforce Threat Assessment Laws. Noting Lack of Compliance Not Enough.
by James C. Sherlock I have written about the Threat Assessment Teams (TAT’s) of two state universities, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. I assessed Tech to be compliant with state law. I reported that UVa is not. That of course raises the issue of the rest of Virginia’s colleges and universities. The Virginia…
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Petersburg Resumes Important Actions Against City Code Violators — Homeless Needs Increase
by James C. Sherlock Sometimes absolutely necessary actions have more than one outcome. Such is the case in Petersburg. Joyce Chu of Petersburg’s indispensable Progress- Index last evening initiated a multi-part series on the impacts of the city’s closure due to safety violations of two motels used by otherwise homeless people. Her first article makes…
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You Dirty Rat!
From Orkin’s 2022 list of “rattiest” cities in the United States: 4. Washington, D.C. 25. Norfolk 33. Richmond In the list of cities with the most rodents, Chicago took the top spot, followed by Los Angeles and New York. By counting total rat populations, Orkin’s methodology skews to big cities. I’d like to see a…
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Stress, Fuzzy Symptoms, and Long COVID
by James A. Bacon WHRO Public Media tells the story of Chesapeake nurse Megan Temple, who contracted COVID-19 in October and has dealt with “long COVID” ever since. She got over the initial illness quickly. But in the weeks and months that followed, during which she also recovered from abdominal surgery, she developed an array…
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Widespread Fallout from School Closures
by Kerry Dougherty I feel sorry for 1st-grade teachers. Not only do they have the tough task of teaching kids to read, but they are now dealing with children who lack some of the most basic skills needed to learn. Skills the children should have learned in pre-school and kindergarten. An admissions officer from a…
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Who’s Scared of Monkeypox? Not Me.
by Kerry Dougherty Read the increasingly hysterical stories about monkeypox and you’ll learn that public health officials are “scrambling,” “grappling” and “struggling.” They don’t know what to do to slow the spread of this nasty, but rarely fatal disease. The WHO has declared a public health emergency, its highest level of alert. The Biden administration…
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Violent Crime Now the Top Public Health Concern
Community violence and crime constitute the No. 1 “public health issue” that concerns registered voters in Virginia, finds the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA) in a poll released today. Fifty-one percent of the 800 Virginians polled selected the issue. The No. 2 concern was healthcare work shortages, which logged the top vote from 25%…
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No, Your Middle Schooler Doesn’t HAVE to Get the HPV Vaccine
by Kerry Dougherty Virginia Beach Delegate Tim Anderson took his sons to see the new “Minions” movie two weeks ago at the Regal Cinemas at Town Center. They were settled in their seats when a disturbing image appeared on the screen. The movie wasn’t offensive. But a public service announcement from the Virginia Department of…
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Mamas, Let Your Babies Grow Up Before Getting Vaccinated
by James A. Bacon About 21,000 Virginia children aged four and under have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in the three weeks since the shots were made available, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. That amounts to only 5% of the age group, observes reporter Eric Kolenich, but it’s significantly higher than the national average of 2%. I’m…