Tag: COVID-19
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What if COVID-19 Never Goes Away?
by James A. Bacon Here’s a question my wife and I have been asking ourselves recently: What if COVID-19 doesn’t go away? From the beginning of the epidemic, we assumed that we (along with the rest of the country) were enduring a temporary inconvenience. We’d hunker down, restrict our social interactions, wear masks in indoor…
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Why Have Nursing Home Outbreaks Continued?
by Carol J. Bova In a July 29 tele-press conference, Dr. Norman Oliver, Virginia’s Commissioner of Health, said, “We’ve made a concerted effort at testing in nursing homes and other congregate settings. … We’ve done 456 such point prevalence surveys [PPS] covering all of our skilled nursing facilities and correctional facilities.” As of June 5th,…
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Bashing the Beach
by Kerry Dougherty I love Virginia Beach. This cul-de-sac by the sea has been home since 1984. We locals might complain about the place — greedy developers, corrupt politicians, no waves — but we don’t much like elitist outsiders blowing into town and bashing us after they leave. And that’s just what one man did…
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So It’s Not “About the Children” After All
by James C. Sherlock The Chesterfield Education Association (CEA), a local unit affiliated with the National Education Association, is pushing back hard against a plan to have school employees report to their schools in order to use school facilities and support systems to professionalize remote instruction to their students. (According to the CEA president, the…
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About that Shiny New Contact Tracing App…
by Kerry Dougherty After months of being next to last nationally – in COVID-19 testing – Virginia is finally first in something: A brand new contact tracing app. Yippee! “Virginia officials on Wednesday launched a smartphone app that uses Bluetooth technology to alert people when they have come in contact with someone who has tested…
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Will COVID-19 Spark a U.S. Manufacturing Renaissance?
by James A. Bacon Will the COVID-19 epidemic inspire the “re-shoring” of manufacturing to the United States and a revitalization of the U.S. manufacturing economy? If so, that could be great news for Virginia communities bet on manufacturing as a source of economic development. The story is not a simple one. Several commentators in the…
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With All the COVID-Relief Money Flowing, Why Is There an Eviction Crisis?
by James A. Bacon We’ve been living with the COVID-19 epidemic in Virginia for more than four months now. Given the fact that hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens have lost their jobs, it should not surprise us that some have had trouble paying their rent. But I am surprised to read that Virginia…
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Trust the USPS With the Next Election?
by Kerry Dougherty I’m playing postman, I thought a couple of weeks ago as I delivered mail to four of my neighbors. That was the day that every single envelope in my mailbox was addressed to someone else. It was a record. Usually there are no more than one or two wayward envelopes. Our regular…
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As Deadline Approaches, JMU Enrollments Look Good
by James A. Bacon The big question college administrators are asking right now is how many students will enroll in their institutions this fall? A consumer revolt against the high cost of attending a four-year residential college was brewing even before the COVID-19 epidemic. Now many parents are questioning whether it makes sense to take…
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Maryland Governor Stands Up for Private Schools
by Kerry Dougherty It was inevitable. Once teachers’ unions and associations began using their muscle to lobby to keep public schools closed this fall it was likely that city and state officials – who often owe their jobs to militant teachers’ groups – might try to close private schools, too. Think about the optics: Private…
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Double Standards and the COVID Crisis
by Kerry Dougherty You want to know why some of us are so cynical about the Covid crisis? It’s the double standards. The lack of consistency. The shifting goalposts. Officials saying one thing and doing another. We saw a glaring example of the latter it here in Virginia in May, when the Governor — who’d…
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A Low-Cost, Binge-Learning Model for Higher Ed
by James A. Bacon Perhaps the most interesting company headquartered in Virginia today is Herndon-based Strategic Education Inc. The company made a brief splash in the news yesterday when it announced a deal to acquire two Australian investor-funded universities for $643 million in cash. But the company, which generates roughly $1 billion a year in…
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Let the Young Be Stupid. Focus on the Outbreaks
by Carol J. Bova Governor Ralph Northam is cracking down on a surge in COVID-19 cases in Hampton Roads by limiting the serving of alcohol in the region. He’s attacking the wrong problem. You can’t fix stupid, and you can’t make young people listen to advice. Irresponsible youthful behavior will spread the COVID-19 virus, but…
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Brace Yourselves: Another Northam Presser Today
by Kerry Dougherty Get ready, Virginia. Gov. Ralph Northam, the man who can’t stop the rioting in Richmond but thinks he can stop the spread of COVID-19, is holding a press conference. No, he won’t be announcing strong measures to end the violence and lawlessness roiling the streets of the Capitol. Like most Democrats, the…
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Why is VDH Stockpiling Cases as Unknown Race?
By Carol J. Bova The Northam administration started expressing concern about the disparity of racial impacts of COVID-19 as early as March. But the number of confirmed cases with race/ethnicity listed as “Unknown” has grown to 20,886, or 24% of all cases. How is such a huge gap in the data even possible? Here’s the…