Tag: COVID-19
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COVID-19 Update: Don’t Panic!!
The number of COVID-19 confirmed new cases and hospitalizations spiked higher yesterday, based on the latest Virginia Department of Health data. New cases marked a record for Virginia at 601, while one-day hospitalizations also hit a high. But these numbers are volatile, often due to reporting delays, and yesterday’s jump was not sufficient to change…
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Nursing Home Horror
by Kerry Dougherty One of the saddest aspects of what’s being called the “new normal” is that nursing homes are closed to visitors. It’s necessary, of course, to keep COVID-19 away from the elderly. But it is wrenching for families. I have a friend whose mother is on the first floor of a local nursing…
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A National Strategy for COVID-19 Testing
By Dick Hall-Sizemore The President does not seem able to formulate a national strategy for COVID-19 testing. So, I am proposing one: Say to Abbot Laboratories, “Here is $1 billion. Turn over the rights to your new testing machine to the government.” Say to Abbot Laboratories, “Here is $100 million. Train an army of technicians…
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The Canterbury Tragedy and the Failed Virginia Department of Health
by James C. Sherlock One of the issues we are facing with the decline of regional newspapers is the decline of investigative reporting. The few reporters left in Virginia covering the Northam administration are printing press releases as stories and reporting press conferences for what is said, not what is unsaid or wrong. The national…
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COVID-19 Update: Yup, the Virus Has Plateaued
One hundred and ninety-nine COVID-19 patients were discharged from Virginia hospitals yesterday, exceeding the 66 patients admitted, according to the latest data from the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association (VHHA). The excess of discharges over admissions represents a major milestone in the fight against the deadly disease. Perhaps it…
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The U.S., and Virginia, Soon Will have COVID-19 Testing Out the Wazoo
by James C. Sherlock The Washington press corps has aggressively questioned President Trump about the need for aggressive nationwide testing before reversing social distancing measures and opening up the economy. Many have pointed to public health experts and other advisors who say the U.S. needs more testing first. The media gave considerable attention, for example,…
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Rethinking Ralph Northam
By Peter Galuszka Governor Ralph Northam has been taking his lumps, especially from critics on this blog, for his performance in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s been described as inept, incompetent, unresponsive and, incredibly, as potentially dictatorial. What is indeed curious is that while Northam was slow to get moving on virus issues, he has…
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In a Virtual Learning Environment, Public Schools May Need to Extend the School Year
by James A. Bacon A story I missed yesterday in all the excitement… Two days ago the Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) announced a major expansion of Virtual Virginia, the state’s online learning platform to help teachers host virtual classes while schools are closed due to the COVID-19 epidemic. The initiative will enable public school…
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COVID-19 Testing at Urgent Care Clinics
by James C. Sherlock This information on Urgent Care Clinic testing in Virginia is a follow-up to yesterday’s information on testing in general. It was developed by web searches in about two hours. It is representative, but not necessarily complete. The Governor can direct his staff to provide compete information updated daily on a virginia.gov…
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A COVID-19 Testing Update
by James C. Sherlock I provide this update to bring our readers up to speed on the always complex and sometimes confusing subject of COVID-19 testing. High and medium throughput laboratory testing There are multiple laboratory platforms widely distributed for which FDA-authorized COVID-19 tests are available[1]. Among these are: the Roche 8800 high-throughput machine. It…
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Biocomplexity Institute Unveils COVID-19 Model
by James A. Bacon John Butcher and I have been cautiously optimistic that the COVID-19 epidemic is near its peak in Virginia, and that Virginia hospitals seem to be in little danger of being overwhelmed. Now comes the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute, which has developed a sophisticated, Virginia-specific epidemiological model. The Institute agrees that…
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COVID-19, Social Distancing and Risk
by James A. Bacon Among the useful new data sets published by the Virginia Department of Health on its COVID-19 dashboard is a map of “outbreaks” around the state. The dashboard does not define an “outbreak” but it appears to entail cases in which multiple infections are traced to a particular location. To no one’s…
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COVID-19 Update: Are We Leveling Off?
The latest data from the Virginia Department of Health, reported this morning, is consistent with the notion that the spread of the COVID-19 virus in Virginia is nearing a peak. The graph above, produced by John Butcher, does a much better job of showing the trend than any of the graphics I’ve been creating. So,…
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Limits on Liberty: Where’s the Outrage?
by Kerry Dougherty Remember the hordes of angry people – women mostly – who took to the streets after Trump was elected? They were so worried that his judicial appointments would interfere with their right to abortions that they wore pink vagina hats and called themselves “The Resistance.” Remember all of the lefties who took…
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Wonks Rejoice: More COVID-19 Data on Display!
by James A. Bacon I have to tip my hat to the anonymous state employees who are maintaining the Virginia Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard. They are publishing more data, and they’re spiffing it up with some pretty decent displays. For example: The graph above, snipped from the VDH dashboard, show the number of confirmed…