Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Everyday Heroes in the COVID-19 Battle

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by

James A. Bacon
in

There will be plenty of time later for pointing fingers of blame regarding who should have done what in the battle against the COVID-19 virus. In the meantime, many Virginians are doing remarkable things in a time of crisis. Entrepreneurial creativity, community spirit, and a can-do attitude will help get us through. Some heartening stories:

From vodka to sanitizers. The Chesapeake Bay Distillery in Virginia Beach makes vodka, gin and tequila, but their local restaurants market is shutting down. Talk about turning on a dime. The owners have a big supply of alcohol in storage. So the distillery has shifted to the business of creating hand sanitizers and disinfectants. Kudos to Virginia ABC for signing an order allowing the firm to make the switch. WTKR has the story.

Raising funds for nonprofits. The Williamsburg Community Foundation has started an emergency fund to provide flexible grants to nonprofit organizations providing services to residents in the community. Williamsburg Vice Mayor Doug Pons and Councilman Benny Zhang on Thursday personallyl pledged $10,000 to start the fund, reports WYDaily.

From guns to cans. Citing Governor Northam’s restrictions on gatherings of more than 10 people, a Nelson County militia muster has canceled its muster and opted instead for collecting canned foods and registering volunteers for the Nelson County Food pantry. So reports the News & Advance.

UVa Health develops own tests. Amidst the national shortage of COVID-19 testing kits, the University of Virginia Health System has developed its own tests and begun performing them. The health system started performing about 20 tests per day two days ago and hoped to ramp that up the number to 80 per day this weekend. A national shortage of nasal and upper throat swabs remains a potential constraint. Dr. Amy Mathers and laboratory director Mendy Poulter began the work weeks ago when it first became obvious there was a national shortage of critical reagents. Their endeavors were supported by “an immediate outpouring of donations,” reports UVA Today.

Readers, if you spot stories of Virginians doing positive, uplifting things, please forward them to me at jabacon[at]baconsrebellion.com.

— JAB

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5 responses to “Everyday Heroes in the COVID-19 Battle”

  1. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    If there’s a bright side to this COVID-19 fiasco it might be that the partisan vitriol diminishes. Politicians should be held to account for what they did and didn’t do around this crisis. However, that accounting should be based on their actions and not their political party.

  2. djrippert Avatar
    djrippert

    I make it a point to thank the cashiers in the grocery store and the people working the to go windows at restaurants for working. They have no choice but to be within 6 feet of person after person.

    Virginia up to 152 cases as of noon today. Additional cases by day:

    March 21: +38
    March 20: +20
    March 19: +17
    March 18: +10
    March 17: +16
    March 16: +6
    March 15: +4
    March 14: +11
    March 13: +13

    Tomorrow? +65?

    1. TooManyTaxes Avatar
      TooManyTaxes

      The McLean Giant was busy at 6:10 a.m. Lots of employees and 3rd parties stocking shelves. Much better than last Saturday but some items just aren’t there. What was troubling is the failure of the store manager to follow company policy. Giant announced it was setting aside an hour each day between 6-7 am for people over 60 to shop in an environment that makes social distancing somewhat easier. But, of course, the rule was not enforced or even announced by a sign or employee at the entrance doors. I chalk it up to the current manager being a doofus.

  3. V N Avatar
    V N

    DJ I did the same thing. In addition, no, it is still the same on the politics side. I got PM’ed that someone got mad (troll behavior for a long time) that I didn’t allow them access to speak on my platform, so they threatened to ruin my rep in an area. Then has still been commenting on my page, although blocked/banned. Comments to include trashing my other folks, but what I have from someone else are screenshots associating her with elected Republican officials, several other Republican folks. I’m not a Democrat either, just an independent. I have seen no Democrat gets this, so its more like they want to split power and not share. Remember this is at local level and I’ve outed a ton of stuff in this city on camera, most of which is Republican. While it may shock folks, the local Republicans can function like the state level Democrats and the Democrats be the ones quiet. Would make for an interesting series if Jim let me and people were interested.

  4. sbostian Avatar
    sbostian

    Loud applause to those who merit them. It is still not too early to condemn police state tactics in the name of safety. The safety first motto at the societal level quickly becomes suicidal because it denies fact that life is risky and lack of productive activity makes it riskier.

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