Good morning, RVA: 3,853↘️ • 45↗️; record-breaking numbers; and some spicy local politics

Good morning, RVA! It’s 35 °F, and maybe you had some flurries or icy rain this morning? While nothing to write home about, it’s nice to know that they tried. Today, and throughout the weekend, expect highs in the 40s and dry skies.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 3,853↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 45↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 236↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 91, Henrico: 85, and Richmond: 60). Since this pandemic began, 512 people have died in the Richmond region. Here’s this week’s stacked chart of statewide new reported positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to freak you out. The state’s seven-day average of new hospitalization, at 111, is now higher than it has ever been during this entire pandemic. The number of people dying each day continues to increase (right now the seven-day average sits at 31.1). Now that we have almost a year’s worth of data, we know that COVID-19 is probably the third leading cause of death in Virginia with 4,553 total deaths—behind only cancer (15,064) and heart disease (14,861). These are 2017 numbers, but, for comparison, 1,245 people died from the flu that year. Because deaths do lag hospitalizations and hospitalizations do continue to increase, we probably can expect an increase in deaths as we close out the year. Here is our local graph of new reported coronavirus cases, and, while it looks like we’re coming off a peak, you can see that’s driven by a decrease in cases in Henrico and that Richmond and Chesterfield have stayed relatively flat over the last couple of days. Stay tuned, I guess. To close out this depressing intro, let’s turn to the national picture where The COVID Tracking Project reports all-time highs in both new cases and new hospitalizations across the country. As of yesterday, over 300,000 people have died in the United States, with December marking the second deadliest month of the pandemic. At some point, I’m sure, we’ll be able to pair these horrifyingly stark numbers with some hope-filled vaccination numbers. If anyone comes across a vaccine data dashboard that they like, please send it along!

In spicy local politics news, VPM’s Roberto Roldan reports that Councilmember Mike Jones will primary Del. Betsy Carr next year in the 69th House District. Carr has represented that district for a decade. Fascinating! I don’t know if Jones will win, and he’s allowed to maintain his council seat while running for the House, but! Progressives! Urbanists! People living in the 9th District! Y’all should probably start noodling on who could replace Jones on City Council. It’d be a crushing blow to the barely-progressive, sometimes straight-up-conservative council to swap out Jones with a suburban moderate.

Mike Platania at Richmond BizSense says VCU has scooped up some more property around the Diamond in pursuit of their planned athletic village. I’m excited for this part of town to start in-filling their barb-wire ensconced parking lots with actual buildings, but I am a little nervous about, once again, marking large chunks of land off of our tax rolls. I wish (for, like, 100 reasons) we could fast forward five years and see how that neighborhood turns out.

For a reason I’d like to learn more about, the Capitol—like, the federal one—has a Statuary Hall hosting two statues from every state. Since 1909, George Washington and Robert E. Lee have represented Virginia, which I think says a lot about how Virginia’s General Assembly, who approves the statues, felt about the state of the union 100 years ago. That all will change, though, as an advisory commission voted yesterday to replace the Lee statue with a statue of Barbara Johns! I couldn’t be happier to have a Black woman representing our state in the Capitol in this way, and will be even happier should one that’s not made of stone or bronze soon represent us in the Governor’s Mansion.

The Richmond and Henrico Health Districtswill host another COVID-19 testing event to close out the week. Head on over to the Regency Square parking deck (1420 N. Parham Road) between 10:00 AM–12:00PM and get COVID tested.

This morning’s patron longread

Tone Is Hard to Grasp Online. Can Tone Indicators Help?

Submit by Patron Alexis. How useful is this?? Although, I am skeptical of whenever the New York Times does an expose on how the kids are talking these days. Remember “grunge speak”?

Tone indicators are most popular within some Twitter and Tumblr communities of young people with overlapping interests in identity representation, anime and K-pop fandom, twee aesthetics, and sensitivity toward mental health and gender issues. It’s a milieu where inclusivity is considered a paramount virtue. These people use and like tone indicators because they want to help others have better experiences online. In recent weeks, several users have posted lists containing dozens of tone indicators ranging from “/j = joking” to “/lh = lighthearted” and “/nsx = nonsexual intent.”

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