Tag: COVID-19
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No More Sand Castles
by Kerry Dougherty Two weeks ago, when Gov. Ralph Northam issued his over-reaching stay-at-home order that closed Virginia beaches to anyone not exercising or fishing until June 10, a young father politely emailed the Norfolk police for guidance. I’ve deleted his full name and email address for privacy reasons. I have seen the emails. I…
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COVID-19 Update: Are We Reaching Peak Epidemic?
I don’t want to fan the flames of false hope, but the latest data from the Virginia Department of Health is consistent with the idea that Virginia at long last, is flattening the curve. We may not have reached peak virus spread, but we could be close to it, as seen in John Butcher’s graph…
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Commonwealth Pays $150,000 for Medical Supply Chain Expertise
by James A. Bacon The Commonwealth of Virginia will pay $150,000 to global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company to help procure more personal protective equipment and testing supplies for COVID-19, the Virginia Mercury reported Friday. “Given the really free-for-all in obtaining [personal protective equipment], we’ve gotten hundreds and hundreds of offers, some of which…
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A COVID-19 Bail Out for Newspapers Would Perpetuate a Dying Business Model
by James A. Bacon Virginia’s two U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, have joined 17 colleagues in signing a letter calling for emergency COVID-19 funding for regional and local news outlets. “Local news is in a state of crisis that has only been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the senators wrote. “Local papers and…
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COVID-19 Update: The Data Takes a Nap
It’s the weekend, and the Virginia Department of Health’s compilation of COVID-19 statistics is subject to reporting delays, so the number of new confirmed cases and hospitalizations is likely incomplete. So, be not deceived by the low numbers. As occurred with last weekend’s data, we’ll see a huge rebound Tuesday. Even I, as eager as…
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COVID-19 Update: A Perplexing Discrepancy in the Data
by James A. Bacon Make sense of this, if you can. Testing confirmed another 568 cases of COVID-19 in Virginia yesterday, according to Virginia Department of Health data published this morning. That was the biggest daily increase in new cases by far, bringing the total number of known cases to 5,077. Yet the number of…
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Abbott COVID-19 Rapid Testing Re-Visited
by James C. Sherlock When Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Resources Dr. Daniel Carey spoke yesterday at the Governor’s press conference, he mentioned that the state had received some Abbott ID NOW platforms from FEMA, but that they were too few to be of any use. Yet ID NOW platforms are point-of-care systems used at…
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Early Prisoner Release Will Not Help Much
By Dick Hall-Sizemore Governor Ralph Northam has announced that he will ask the General Assembly for authority to release from prison those offenders with a year or less to serve on their sentences in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in prisons. He stressed that only those who have demonstrated good behavior and…
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Did Shoddy Science Shut Down America?
by Kerry Dougherty Let’s get one thing straight before some of you become apoplectic. Covid-19 is real. It’s a nasty virus that can make victims desperately sick. It appears to spread faster and do more damage than the seasonal flu. It viciously attacks the elderly and those with underlying medical issues. It’s a killer. Got…
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Arlington Schools Curb Learning in the Name of “Equity”
by Hans Bader The schools in Arlington County are refusing to teach children anything new out of a concern for “equity.” Although the schools are physically closed due to coronavirus, students have been doing their assignments from home using school-issued electronic devices. Now school officials fear students will learn differently if they come from different…
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COVID-19 Update: Plague Still Intensifying
The COVID-19 epidemic is intensifying in Virginia. Twelve more people died from the virus yesterday, bringing the statewide total 121 yesterday, according to data published this morning by the Virginia Department of Health. Meanwhile, the number of new cases, 467, hit a new daily high, and so did the number of new hospitalizations at 87.…
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Bacon Bits: COVID, COVID, Cartel
More layoffs for healthcare workers. Ballad Health, which provides health care in the Kingsport-Bristol metropolitan area, has announced the furlough of 1,100 employees, including 200 to 250 in Virginia, reports the Herald-Courier. The loss of business due to federal efforts to reduce elective procedures, implemented to conserve personal protective equipment, has been financially devastating. “In…
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Why So Little COVID-19 Testing in Virginia?
by James A. Bacon Bacon’s Rebellion readers can’t seem to agree on much when it comes to the COVID-virus, but there is one area of consensus: Virginia needs to perform more testing. The Old Dominion ranks 12th in the nation for population (8.6 million) but only 22nd as of March 27 for testing. Only one…
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COVID-19 Update: Deaths Soar
Nationally, the experts are saying that the COVID-19 virus shows indications of leveling off. There may be signs of the same here in Virginia, but they are subtle. The latest numbers from the Virginia Department of Health and the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association show a steady increase in the number of confirmed cases, hospitalizations…
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Lessons From Canterbury Rehab
By Peter Galuszka For weeks, the Life Care Center in Kirkland, Wash., has been seen as the epicenter of the threat of COVID-19 at tightly packed health care facilities. So far, 37 patients have died of the virus. It hardly gets the national media attention, but a suburban Richmond facility, the Canterbury Rehabilitation & Healthcare…