Tag: COVID-19
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Experts Pulled Six-Foot Social Distance Rule Out Of “Thin Air”
by Kerry Dougherty Hmmm. Looks like the CDC — and the frequently wrong-but-never-in-doubt Dr. Fauci — have a problem. Even The New York Times now admits what those of us who have been paying attention for more than year already knew: That three feet of social distancing provides plenty of protection against Covid-19 and six…
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Lies, Damn Lies, and Race-Obsessed Statistics
by Carol J. Bova A March 3 Virginia Department of Health (VDH) blog post discusses racial/ethnic “health and disease” disparities in light of the COVID-19 epidemic. It states that COVID case rates and hospitalization rates for blacks and Hispanics in the United States and Virginia are substantially higher than for whites. “Social determinants of health are…
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Mark Herring: Friend of the Poor, Scourge of Lenders
by James A. Bacon Attorney General Mark Herring is at it again — acting to protect the poor by government fiat without regard to unintended consequences. In a press release release today, Herring claims credit for backing a law backed by Del. Hala Ayala, D-Woodbridge, that will ensure that federal COVID-relief payments don’t “get swept…
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Let’s Get ALL Kids Back in Class
by Kerry Dougherty It’s one of the cardinal sins of journalism: Burying the lede. That’s newspaper talk for dropping the most important point in a news story deep in the copy. Prime example: The local newspaper’s front-page story on Thursday: “As In-School Learning Returns, A Racial Divide.” In this case you had to read past…
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What We Measure Shapes How We Think
I just came across this headline from The Virginian-Pilot: In Virginia Beach, white students are nearly twice as likely to return for in-person classes than Black students. In Virginia Beach, 72% of white students and just 38% of Black students have chosen to return for in-person classes as schools have reopened. I couldn’t read the…
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Analysis of State Use of Federal COVID Funds
By Dick Hall-Sizemore (Note: All of the data presented in this post is based on the author’s analysis of raw expenditure data from the state’s accounting system (CARDINAL) for FY 2020 and FY 2021 through 2/22/2021.) As of February 22, state agencies had spent or disbursed $11.9 billion in federal COVID funds. Two major categories…
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COVID Vaccination Report
The vaccination pace is picking up. My wife and I had our first round of shots last Sunday at CVS. Ironically, my daughter in Northern Virginia scheduled them for us. She had been checking the CVS website and saw that they were scheduling for two days in Richmond. (I had checked the day before and…
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The Great Unlearning
by James A. Bacon The full dimensions of the COVID-related school closing disaster are coming into sharper view as Virginia school districts compile and report data from the 2020-21 school year. Failing grades are up nearly 500% from last year at some schools in the Lynchburg area, The News & Advance has found through the…
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A Radical Proposal: Abolish Virtual Classes
by Kerry Dougherty Since “following the science” is in vogue, there should be no debate now that ALL schools should be open for in-person classes. Every damn one of them. Five days a week. The science is clear and has been since last spring: COVID poses very little risk to children. And infected children rarely…
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Enough
by Kerry Dougherty Oh look. We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of 15 Days to Slow the Spread. Remember that? The big lie that if we simply shut down the country for just two weeks, it would stop the coronavirus from rampaging coast to coast and allow hospitals prepare for the onslaught. They warned…
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What Do Students Really Value in a College?
by James A. Bacon An ongoing debate about the economics of higher education is the degree to which students value their education as an investment (a way to get a better job and generate higher income) and to which they view it as a consumer good (four years of parties and good times). The question…
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Racial Preferences for Minorities in COVID Vaccinations?
By Hans Bader Virginia is apparently giving preference to certain clusters of minority residents in access to the COVID-19 vaccine, as Judicial Watch notes: In the next few weeks, the state will give preference to black and Latino residents 65 and over while much older white seniors, many in their 80s, cannot secure an appointment…
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UVa’s COVID Commissars
by James A. Bacon COVID-19 infections may have been trending down in Virginia for almost two months now, but they spiked at the University of Virginia several days ago, and the Ryan administration imposed tough new rules to curtail the spread. Not surprisingly, many students have violated the restrictions. In so doing, they have sparked…
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Wait Til the Midnight Hour
by Kerry Dougherty Sitting down, Virginia? Big news! Especially for night owls. Beginning Monday, we will be allowed to stay out past midnight, thanks to the benevolence of our beloved Governor, Ralph Northam. His Excellency announced yesterday that he has decided to lift our 12 to 5 a.m. curfew, the one based on the Northam…
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Help for Small Businesses–One State Use of CARES Funding
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I owe the Dept. of Small Business and Supply Diversity (DSBSD) an apology. In an earlier post, I questioned whether the agency would be able to quickly distribute $120 million in grant funds. It turns out that its first checks went out in mid-August and it had to stop accepting applications on…