Category: Public safety & health
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Public Health Policy and the New COVID Calculus
by James A. Bacon As debates rage over mask and vaccination mandates across Virginia, there is no denying that the spread of the Delta variant has created a spike in confirmed COVID-19 cases. The seven-day moving average of 1,455 (which could grow as late reports filter into the Virginia Department of Health) is only 24%…
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UVa’s Bait and Switch
by Walter Smith The University of Virginia announced its COVID-19 vaccination mandate May 20. Unless students filed for a medical or religious exemption, they had to be vaccinated this fall. If they failed to comply, they would be subject to weekly testing. No mercy for COVID survivors who had developed natural immunities. On August 6th…
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Vaccine Verification Follies
by James A. Bacon The Delta variant is so easily transmitted that Virginia public health officials say it is just a matter of time before all Virginians are exposed to it. In response, employers are requiring employees to be vaccinated and businesses are turning away unvaccinated customers. Suddenly, there is a need for Virginians to…
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Digging Deeper into Vaccine Hesitancy
by James A. Bacon There has been a lot of discussion about the causes of vaccine hesitancy: Trump-voting evangelicals are idiots, Blacks are still scarred by the Tuskegee syphilis experiments, social media is spewing disinformation, people have lost faith in the “experts,” etc. Here’s a clue: People are most influenced by their interactions with the…
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Coming to Virginia – a New State of Emergency?
by James C. Sherlock The Governor’s 15-month emergency powers expired June 30, and, God, does he miss them. From The Virginian-Pilot: “School districts that aren’t requiring masks, including several in Hampton Roads, are running afoul of state law, Gov. Ralph Northam said Thursday.” OK. The bigger questions are how long the governor will put up…
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Free Zywicki!
by James A. Bacon Virginia is now in full-blown panic mode over the Delta variant and the rebound in confirmed COVID-19 cases. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has designated a majority of Virginia localities as “high COVID transmission areas,” and media are reporting outbreaks everywhere from child care centers to summer camps. Cities, universities…
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The Accelerating Scale of the Legislate-Regulate-Spend-and-Repeat Cycle Has Broken Government
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in Corruption and Scandals, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, General Assembly, Governance, Government Finance, Health Care, Housing, Long Term Care and Nursing Homes, Mental illness and substance abuse, Money in politics, Politics, Public safety & health, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Social Services and Entitlementsby James C. Sherlock Virginians – the state and individual citizens – have received over $81 billion in COVID-related federal funding. That comes to $9,507 for every man, woman and child in the Commonwealth. Big money. That was Virginia’s share of $5.3 trillion in federal spending just on the pandemic (so far). A trillion dollars…
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The Bear Truth About That Massachusetts Outbreak
by Kerry Dougherty I have a little assignment for you before you read the rest of today’s post. Google “Provincetown Bear Week.” I’ll wait. Back? Yep, it’s a gathering of burly gay men who descend each summer on this Cape Cod enclave which is renowned for its eclectic shops and studios as well as its…
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COVID: Is It Time to Start Panicking Again?
by James A. Bacon COVID-19 is moving faster than we can keep up with. The headline news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on a study of an outbreak in Massachusetts, is that vaccinated people are just as likely to spread the highly contagious Delta variant of virus as unvaccinated people. The…
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Delta Dawn at JMU?
by Joe Fitzgerald More than 1 in 9 James Madison University students was infected with Covid-19 during the school year that ended in May. To date, the university has accepted little responsibility for those illnesses or for any associated spread in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County. President Alger and members of the Senior Leadership Team have…
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Vaccine Shaming Will Backfire
by Kerry Dougherty Lemme get the straight. The president wants everyone in the country to get vaccinated against Covid-19 — an admirable goal that would likely reduce the virus to a national head cold. So how is he persuading those who are reluctant to take the vaccine to get a shot? By insulting them. Just…
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Why So Much Vaccine Hesitancy?
by James A. Bacon Only a month ago, it seemed as if we were putting COVID-19 behind us. With the emergence of the super-virulent Delta strain, all bets are off. Even vaccinated people and virus-resistant school children are being called upon to start wearing masks. I have no set opinions on the proper course of…
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Dazed and Confused: The CDC
by Kerry Dougherty Confused? Of course you are. Anyone watching the hair-on-fire ninnies at the CDC is dizzy by now. They lack common sense, their pronouncements are irrational, their messaging is bizarre. Oh, and they clearly have no idea what they’re doing. One day these “experts” are experiencing scary “feelings of impending doom.” Next they…
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The Missing Data in the School-Mask Mandate Controversy
by James A. Bacon The Northam administration has issued new guidelines urging unvaccinated students and staff to keep wearing masks in K-12 schools this fall — but won’t require them to do so. Some school districts, like Chesapeake, have voted to nix the masks, while others, like Virginia Beach (see Kerry Dougherty’s column below), will…
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Far-Left Beach School Board Ignores Cries to Remove Masks
by Kerry Dougherty I’ve seen this movie before, I thought, as I watched Tuesday night’s Virginia Beach School Board meeting on my computer. And I know how it ends. To the parents lined up to speak in favor of a motion to make masks optional for students this fall I wanted to shout, Save your…