Good morning, RVA: 2,417↘️ • 20↘️; topping out the charts; Richmond will find a way to be Richmond

Good morning, RVA! It’s 27 °F, and dang that’s cold! Things will warm up over the course of the day, but if you have to take out the dog or are heading on an early-morning bike ride make sure you bundle up. We haven’t bundled in ages! Later today you can expect sunshine and temperatures in the 50s with rain returning tomorrow and Saturday.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 2,417↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 20↘️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 251↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 120, Henrico: 82, and Richmond: 49). Since this pandemic began, 468 people have died in the Richmond region. VDH’s Current Pandemic Status map has all six regions of the Commonwealth “at substantial activity”, something I’ve never seen before. All six regions are experiencing a “high” burden of disease and five out of six are seeing an “increasing” trend. Yet, yesterday, the Governor gave his coronavirus briefing with nary a word of increased restrictions. Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch covered the briefing, at which the Governor said, “I continue to closely monitor the numbers, and we’ll evaluate whether further mitigation steps are necessary.” OK, but, like, the metrics created by the State have already topped out. Unless we change the y-axis they can’t get any worse—and by that I mean they can’t cross another threshold into something like “at really, really substantial activity.” But I guess the Gov will continue to closely monitor how off-the-charts things get? Personally, I don’t really want to find out how off-the-charts things can get in southwestern Virginia, where Kate Masters at the Virginia Mercury reports that Ballad Health “one of the region’s largest hospital systems…had 45 available beds as of Wednesdays, only 13 or 14 of them ICU beds.” This is dire: “The system has a refrigerated morgue truck parked outside its Johnson City hospital in neighboring Tennessee…A second has been ordered for Kingsport, just a few miles away from the Virginia state line.” For most of us, that’s terrifying. For a select few of us though—mostly health care workers—it’s still terrifying in a general way but less so in a specific, personal way as some amount of the COVID-19 vaccine will exist before the end of the year. Vaccine! It’s really happening! So it sounds like we will we close out 2020 not with a bang but with…vaccines and refrigerated morgue trucks?

John O’Connor at the RTD has some more reporting on the proposed GreenCity arena development in Henrico County. You’ll recognize the vast majority of this language from previous reporting on the Richmond version of this project: private operator, permanent tenant, minor league hockey, minor league basketball, A-10 tournament, neutral-site games. We’ve heard it all before, and this phase of a massive economic development project often feels more like throwing spaghetti at a wall rather than hearing about actual planning details. Richard Meagher at the RVA Politics blog calls it the fanfare stage, saying, “So far we are following the blueprint of these kinds of deals, so we are currently in the ‘fanfare’ stage with big announcements, lots of promises of jobs and ‘economic impact,’ and various pictures of ‘vaportecture.’” Expect more fanefare over the next little while, but probably not on the scale of Richmond’s Navy Hill attempt. In my experience, Henrico likes to do less of their business in public and then move rapidly once they figure out which direction they’re headed (aka if they’ve got the votes).

Related, Marc Cheatham at the Cheats Movement has some good thoughts on the proposed/upcoming casino referendum. To quote Marc a bit: “Given the city’s challenges, I don’t think a casino should be a priority—or is in the best interest of Richmond. With that, I also know the culture of Richmond. The city has earned the reputation of not having the confidence and capability to do large economic projects. This is a reputation that will need to be shed. I don’t believe a casino is the right vehicle to challenge this reputation, but, if my prediction is correct, a casino won’t float by the grassroots community or city council. Richmond will find a way to be Richmond and not move forward.” I’m equal parts bummed and reassured by that.

This is charming: Tamica Jean-Charles at the RTD says Frank Pichel is selling “Charlie Brown-style” Christmas trees to benefit the Anna Julia Cooper Episcopal School in the East End. Pichel harvests the scraggly, Pinus virginiana from his land in Nelson County, which you can then buy to add something a little different to your holiday decorations this year. I love this. Follow your heart when it comes to holiday decoration, I say.

Take advantage of a big, free COVID-19 testing event today from 1:00–4:00 PM at The Diamond parking lot. Plenty of space to spread out, plenty of crisp fall/wintery weather to enjoy, plenty of reasons to get tested if you think you may have caught the coronavirus while traveling over the holiday weekend.

This morning’s longread

Eight New Yorkers on Partying During COVID

This piece is simultaneously amazing and enraging. It makes me feel at once doomed and also full of empathy for the shared human desire to just spend time with other people.

But, like, we’re pretty doomed, I think.

“The underground aspect of it adds to the fun. It’s irresponsible, and humans get something out of doing irresponsible things,” said Jessica, a 31-year-old product manager who spent all night at an illicit indoor club in Bushwick in September. “Still, I felt guilty the entire time I was there.” Jessica was not a COVID denier, and she knew she was putting herself and others at risk, she had her own justification for going out. As did revelers across the city every night since June. They had antibodies, the transmission rate was low, they had a post-party isolation plan, it was their 25th birthday, or they desperately needed a night of normalcy.

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