Tag: COVID-19
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Do Not Extend Ban on Elective Procedures, Hospitals Urge Governor
by James A. Bacon Citing ample hospital capacity and the deferral of 15,000 medical procedures each week, the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association is calling upon Governor Ralph Northam to allow hospitals to resume non-emergency procedures across Virginia. “Significant progress has been made in combating the COVID-19 pandemic and treating those afflicted with the virus,”…
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Notes from the Right Wing Echo Chamber
By Peter Galuszka On Wednesday, I was standing next to the Capitol grounds in Richmond watching brightly decorated cars and pickups drive on 9th Street, their horns blaring. I was attending the drive by protest rally on assignment for Style Weekly and happened to speak to Jason Roberge, a Spotsylvania County resident who is one…
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Northam Is Using the Wrong Metric to Guide Lock Down
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam says he won’t begin phasing out COVID-19 lockdown measures in Virginia until he sees a decrease in the number of coronavirus cases for two full weeks. “We are nowhere near 14 days,” he reminded everyone in a virtual town hall yesterday. Here’s the rub: The Governor has no…
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Even Guam Leads Virginia in COVID-19 Testing
by James C. Sherlock Virginia trails almost all U.S. states and possessions in the percentage of the population tested for the COVID-19 virus — even as Governor Ralph Northam has made extensive testing a prerequisite for ending the shutdown. Guam has performed more tests per capita than Virginia. Among the 50 states, Virginia exceeds only…
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COVID Casualty: Unemployment Insurance System
By Steve Haner This first appeared in today’s Richmond Times-Dispatch and has also been distributed by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. America’s and Virginia’s unemployment insurance program – born of the Great Depression and the Social Security Act of 1935 – may be another casualty of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus has mutated…
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Parole Board Frees Murderers
by Kerry Dougherty In 2012, Debra Scribner, 58, was convicted of first degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder and use of a firearm in the commission of a murder in connection with the shooting death of her son-in-law Eric Wynn in Halifax County. She was sentenced to 23 years in prison plus 6 months.…
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Looking for the Goldilocks Lockdown
by Chris Spencer Virginia has an opportunity to show the rest of the nation how to reopen and prepare for the next waves of COVID-19. We needed widespread mandatory restrictions in March to (a) flatten the curve to give the health system a chance to manage it and (b) impress upon people the seriousness of…
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COVID-19 Update: Hospitalization Signs Stable
by James A. Bacon Hospitalization of patients testing positive for COVID-19 continues to creep higher in Virginia, though not at the scarily rapid rate of earlier in the month. Social distancing measures, both those imposed and those voluntarily embraced by the population, are slowing the spread of the virus. The plague is still spreading by…
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No, Governor, Back-to-Work Protesters Are Not “Selfish”
by James A. Bacon Governor Ralph Northam has a problem with protesters who would like to see him reopen Virginia’s economy by phasing out his COVID-19 emergency decrees. In an interview with MSNBC, he said (as reported by Politico): I’m just as anxious as anybody else to open up our economy. We don’t need protesters…
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Ralph “No Hope” Northam
by Kerry Dougherty Gird your loins, Virginia. While some governors are preparing to gradually reopen their state economies with social distancing and restrictions, noncommittal Ralph Northam seems ready to stretch this misery out for months. Long after COVID-19 is forecast to be inactive. Last night, during a virtual town hall, Northam once again deflated expectations…
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Dozens of Machines in Virginia Are Processing COVID-19 Tests
Perhaps this slide will prove useful to the task force just appointed by Governor Ralph Northam to address the disarray in the Virginia Department of Health’s COVID-19 testing program. In the face of a declining number of tests reported to the Virginia Department of Health in the past week, Northam has said he won’t relax…
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Race, Injustice, the Northam Administration, and the Viral Inferno at Canterbury Rehabilitation
by James A. Bacon Virginia news outlets have published a spate of articles in recent days about the elevated rate of COVID-19 infection and mortality among African-Americans. Typical was this story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which highlighted the fact that in the City of Richmond, black people comprise less than half the city’s population but…
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Virginia Economy Held Hostage to Lousy Data
by James A. Bacon The number of COVID-related hospitalizations in Virginia is stabilizing. The curve is flattening, hospitals are in no danger of being overwhelmed, and Virginians want to get back to work. But Governor Ralph Northam says he will not relax his emergency social-distancing edicts until he gets better data. And there’s the rub. Virginia…
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COVID-19 in Prison
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The latest DOC report shows an increase in the number of offenders testing positive for the novel coronavirus. There were a total of 147 incarcerated with a positive test, with nine of those in a hospital, compared to 116 and 8, respective, in the prior day’s report. Central Virginia Correctional Unit, the…
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Jumbled Numbers
by Carol Bova The Virginia Mercury published an article by Kate Masters April 6th about Virginia’s $27 million order for personal protective equipment (PPE). As of April 20th, the Governor’s Office had not responded to the Mercury’s Freedom of Information Act request for a copy of the contract or the specifics of the deal. The…