Tag: COVID-19
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The Gray Lady Backs School Testing
by James C. Sherlock I wrote in a column not long ago that it will be impossible to create plans to make up for COVID-related learning losses if we cannot benchmark those losses and their subsequent mitigation. I recommended standardized testing as the only readily available and proven way to take those measurements. For most…
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Who’s Getting the Vaccine in Virginia?
More than 80,000 Virginians have been given the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, according to data reported today by the Virginia Department of Health. Presumably, the overwhelming majority has been administered to health care workers, who are most likely to be exposed to, and to spread, the virus. Very few vaccines have been given to the elderly.…
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Welcome to the New Year, Same as the Old Year
by James A. Bacon Three hundred and sixty-five days ago, my wife and friends and I tossed confetti, tooted our noisemakers and welcomed in a new year. Twenty twenty, we all agreed, couldn’t possibly be worse than 2019. It didn’t take long to disabuse us of that notion. First came the coronavirus. Then the George…
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Where Has the ACLU Been?
by Kerry Dougherty Gosh, I’m getting old. I’m old enough to remember when the ACLU — the American Civil Liberties Union — cared about constitutional rights. You know, the civil liberties of ordinary decent people. No more. As best I can tell, this far-left organization has been largely indifferent over the past 10 months as…
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VDH Outbreak Reporting Won’t Save Lives, Inspectors Will
by Carol J. Bova Back in June, I asked “Where Are the Other 52 Nursing Homes with Outbreaks?” because that was the number missing from the Long Term Care Facility Task Force dashboard. The Task Force explained it wasn’t involved with group homes and residential behavioral health facilities and, therefore, did not include them in…
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Prioritize Vaccine by Age, Not Race
by Carol J. Bova The last thing the government needs to do is polarize citizens by prioritizing COVID-19 vaccination for favored races and ethnicities. Statements like those of Harald Schmidt, assistant professor in the University of Pennsylvania Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, amount to reverse racism. “Older populations are whiter,” said Schmidt, as…
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Snow Days for Remote Learners?
by Kerry Dougherty Just when you thought this pandemic couldn’t get any zanier, there’s this: At least one school district in Virginia decided to give kids a snow day this week. Even though schools were already closed and not a single bus had to navigate icy roads. Let’s back up. Remote learning has been such…
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Virginians Are Loading the COVIDWISE App. Does It Make a Difference?
by James A. Bacon Virginia leads the nation in the percentage of citizens who have downloaded the COVIDWISE smart phone app that alerts users when they might have been exposed to the virus, reports Virginia Business. The state has spent $1.5 million promoting sign-ups. Jeff Stover, executive adviser to the health commissioner, says that downloads…
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Ranking Virginia Colleges for COVID Performance, Round II
by James A. Bacon It is a legitimate question to ask: Which of Virginia’s colleges and universities are doing the best and worst job of managing the COVID-19 epidemic? Over the weekend, I posted some numbers showing that Virginia Tech, James Madison University, and the University of Virginia had posted the largest numbers of confirmed…
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Northam’s New Rules. Worse Than the Old Ones
by Kerry Dougherty I missed Gov. Ralph Northam’s Thursday presser. But I heard and read all about it. Two things stand out: First, his idiotic curfew is simply the action of a little man attempting to flex his muscles for a populace that is growing weary of his arbitrary and capricious rules. Second, this secular leader…
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As It Turns Out, UVa Has Third Most COVID Cases in Virginia Higher-Ed
by James A. Bacon In my previous post I reported how the University of Virginia has handled the COVID-19 epidemic, noting that the state’s flagship university had experienced 1,250 cases since reopening this fall and only seven hospitalizations. Having no basis for comparison, I withheld judgment on whether UVa had done a superior job compared…
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How UVa Dodged the COVID-19 Bullet
by James A. Bacon The major challenge facing the University of Virginia this fall was controlling the spread of the COVID-19 virus when reconvening for the new academic year. With a combined student and employee population of about 45,000 the UVa administration had a gargantuan task. Fear was running rampant. Many people thought the university’s…
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Utilities Face Paperwork Blizzard to Provide Relief
by Steve Haner Virginia utility customers who are behind on their bills in the COVID-19 recession are closer to receiving government payments toward their debts, but there is one more paperwork hurdle that may trip some of them. A few days ago, the Virginia State Corporation Commission completed a preliminary allocation of the $100 million…
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Richmond Schools Discover that the Shutdown Magnifies Mental Illness
by James A. Bacon The downside of the COVID-19 school lockdown has become fully apparent to Richmond Public School officials. Richmond schools are experiencing an “alarming surge” in mental health issues — depression, self-harm, and suicidal ideation — among the district’s 21,000 students in depression, reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch. The impact of social isolation, fear…
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NoPlan Northam Readies Random Restrictions
By DJ Rippert Here we go again. The Richmond Times Dispatch is reporting that Governor Ralph “NoPlan” Northam signaled a possible increase in COVID-19 restrictions during an interview with CNBC yesterday (Dec 7). Northam is quoted as saying, “We’re actively discussing on how to mitigate the numbers, and we’ll take further measures if we need…