Tag: COVID-19
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Dude, What Happened?
Check out this graph from the Virginia Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard. Look how dramatically the seven-day moving average of COVID-related deaths in Virginia plunged in early January. Peaking at 51 on Dec. 31, the average daily deaths dropped to 18 by Jan. 7. In Central Virginia, one of five regions, the rolling average dropped…
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The Systemic Racism of Government Incompetence
by James A. Bacon Just as the COVID-19 virus was creeping into Virginia last March, the state shut down the Sussex County Health Department — and didn’t bother to inform local government officials for two weeks. To this day, reports WRIC, the health department remains closed, and a sign on its door reads, “All public…
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Nursing Home Carnage Continues in Virginia
by Kerry Dougherty With nursing home deaths in the news, perhaps you’re wondering how well the Rajah of Richmond — Ralph Northam — protected the commonwealth’s most vulnerable citizens. The answer: Not well. As of February 16, there have been 908 outbreaks in Virginia’s long-term care facilities and 3,147 COVID deaths. That represents a whopping…
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The Latest Lunacy: Face Masks for Fishermen
by Kerry Dougherty Ever wonder what would happen if feminists, man buns and smoked salmon socialists crafted federal policy? You’d get moronic rules like this one from the Biden administration: One of Joe’s latest executive orders requires all commercial fishermen to wear face masks – including while asleep in their cramped berths – and the…
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The Latest Federal COVID Money Pot
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The federal COVID money keeps rolling into the Commonwealth. According to the Secretary of Finance, as of January 13, it was estimated that the state would receive $2.4 billion from the stimulus bill passed by Congress in late December (the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA)). Unlike the earlier COVID…
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More Vaccination Confusion
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I do not know who is to blame–CVS or the state–but the vaccination situation is unacceptable. The Commonwealth seemed to be getting on the right track by enabling individuals to register with their local health departments and the local agencies then using those registration to schedule appointments. Then the federal government changed…
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How the CARES Funding is Being Allocated
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Upon Jim Bacon’s suggestion, Jim Sherlock and I have taken on the task of looking closer at the federal COVID money that is coming the Commonwealth’s way and trying to discern how it is being spent. Unfortunately, this is not an analysis one finds in the general news media. We have taken…
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Follow the Voodoo
by Kerry Dougherty Can we all agree that the halftime show at this year’s Super Bowl was a real stinker? Unless dancing men in sequined jackets with underwear on their heads is your thing, that is. (Yes, I know those were supposed to be bandages, but they looked like tighty whities headgear.) As my radio…
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How Fair Is Virginia’s System for Distributing Vaccines?
by James A. Bacon Virginia has done a much better job in recent days in administering the COVID-19 vaccine. Out the nearly 1.4 million vaccine doses received from the federal government, according to the Becker Hospital Review, 68.7% have been given as shots. But the criteria for distributing the vaccine within the state has not…
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Unlikely to Go Well – Unimaginable Amounts of COVID-Related Money and the Rush to Spend It
by James C. Sherlock The federal government is charged to distribute $7 trillion in supplemental COVID-related supplemental funding already appropriated or pending. Real money, and we will have borrowed every penny. Hard to comprehend that much money. That is 7 million million dollars. I will try here to reduce that to human scale. At full…
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Teaching in the Time of COVID
by Matt Hurt Since March 13 when Virginia schools were initially closed due to COVID-19, I have participated in discussions with hundreds (maybe thousands) of public school teachers and administrators from across Virginia. Most conversations centered on the educational difficulties imposed by the pandemic. A common thread through those conversation was the frustration that schools…
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Northam’s Vaccination Comeback
by James A. Bacon After an abysmal start in vaccinating its population, Virginia has risen to 10th best in the nation ranked by the percentage of COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered. According to the Beckers Hospital Review database, Virginia has given 68.7% of the vaccine doses supplied by the federal government. I don’t know…
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Send Kids Back to School, Northam Urges
by James A. Bacon Better late than never. Citing the increased risk of depression and “irreparable learning loss” from current policies, Governor Ralph Northam said in his Friday press conference that every public school in Virginia should make in-person instruction available as an option by next month. He also urged school districts to offer summer…
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Blacks, Republicans Most Distrustful of Vaccine
by James A. Bacon One out of five Virginians (19%) say they will never get vaccinated against COVID-19, according to a poll of 1,039 people conducted by the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University. The demographic groups most resistant to the vaccine are Republicans, 24% of whom responded that they would “never” get the vaccine,…
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State Senate Votes to Reopen Schools
by Kerry Dougherty Ready for some good news out of Richmond? Thought so. On Tuesday, SB 1303, which will require all Virginia public schools to open for in-person as well as virtual classes, passed the Democrat-controlled Senate overwhelmingly on a BI-PARTISAN VOTE of 26-13. Let’s hear it for politicians putting kids ahead of party! The bill was…