Good morning, RVA: 3,915↗️ • 54↗️; new curfew; and my penultimate Richmond 300 plea

Good morning, RVA! It’s 37 °F, but don’t even worry about it because today’s highs should end up somewhere in the 60s. That sounds lovely. Expect similarly warm, great weather throughout the weekend.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 3,915↗️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 54↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 343↗️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 95, Henrico: 157, and Richmond: 91). Since this pandemic began, 493 people have died in the Richmond region. Here’s this week’s stacked graph of daily, statewide new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. I had to change the y-axis several times since this past Friday. Also, here’s the graph of daily new cases in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield.

It finally happened. Yesterday, the governor announced new, state-wide restrictions to help slow the increasingly rapid spread of disease. You can read through the aforelinked press release, or dive into the full text of Executive Order 72 here. The headliner: A 12:00 AM–5:00 AM curfew (with a bunch of caveats for: getting food, seeking medical attention, taking care of individuals or animals, child care, exercise, work, worship, and volunteering).

Additionally:

Everyone five and up needs to wear masks “in indoor settings shared with others and when outdoors within six feet of another person”

Social gatherings must be limited to 10 people instead of 25 (religious services, employment settings, educational settings, restaurants, and retail stores are exempt)

Fewer spectators can attend rec sports

And “employees that can telework are strongly encouraged to do so.”

There may be a few more things, but I haven’t yet line-by-lined the EO. About the new restrictions, Governor Northam said, “We already have strong public health measures in place, and with these additional steps, we can turn this around. Virginians, if you don’t have to be out, stay at home. Whenever we are around other people, we all need to wear a mask, indoors and out.” And Mayor Stoney had this to say “The Governor’s enhanced public health protocols are common sense steps to keep our city and Commonwealth safe during this latest surge. This community has worked too hard, sacrificed too much to let our guard down now. Stay safe, wear your mask and stay at home from midnight to 5 a.m.”

So, will any of these new restrictions work to slow the spread of the virus? Probably! To stay with the Swiss cheese metaphor, these new restrictions are certainly all new layers to add to our cheesestack—some with bigger holes than others. If Virginians comply, which, I think, is an open question, then, yes, these restrictions will help. Will they help a lot? I have no idea. They could have been way stricter, that’s for sure. For example, if you’d have asked me to pick a window to curfew, I’d not have picked the five hours during which most—but not all!—folks are asleep. Honestly, out of all of those things, I think the plea for teleworking has the potential to do the most good but is just kind of thrown in there at the end without any teeth to it. With the end-of-year holidays on the horizon and the specter of infinite intimate gatherings approaching, I’m nervous about what the future holds.

Also, it sounds like the Governor’s team learned from their pre-Thanksgiving announcement, and this time clearly stated that these new restrictions begin at 12:01 AM on Monday December 14th and end on January 31st.

Kenya Hunter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that the Virginia Education Association has called for school systems to go virtual. The Gov continues to defer to the local school districts to make those decisions, and I think that puts a lot of dang pressure on these elected school boards and volunteer school health committees. I wonder what happens when schools and county governments don’t end up on the same page? Would a stronger position from state government officials empower school decision-makers to follow their hearts?

Mayor Stoney recorded and released this video in support of Richmond 300, and it is packed full of great reasons why City Council should approve the plan this coming Monday. I still think it’s bananas that we’re even talking about whether or not Council could decide to disregard years of citizen work and engagement. If Councilmembers think the plan does not go far enough, cool, would have been good to know that literal years ago, and would have been good to get yourself and your constituency involved in the process earlier than the week before the final vote. Those Councilmembers should first vote to pass the plan and then commit to working deeply with city residents on an amendment to the plan—a process they’re all familiar with as they’ve done it before. I often wonder what Richmond would look like if we could spend more of our time working to build better things instead of spending so much our time trying to prevent things from being destroyed. You can find email addresses for all members of City Council and their liaisons here.

This morning’s longread

“Facebook Has Destroyed This F–king Town”: Facing a Legal Onslaught, Mark Zuckerberg Gets Ready to Fight Back

This breaking up Facebook stuff is wild!

For the last several years, we’ve been hearing murmurs about a legal sledgehammer being taken to Facebook by regulators, not just in the U.S., but around the globe. And indeed, government entities and countless countries have been trying. Facebook has been embroiled in antitrust-related legal battles with European Union regulators, as well as with individual countries across Europe, including Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom. And now, as of Wednesday’s antitrust action, with 48 states—48!—across the United States and with the Federal Trade Commission—not to mention previous actions by the Securities and Exchange Commission, investigations by the Justice Department, and a long list of other legal battles. Even Mark Zuckerberg himself has invited Congress to regulate his company, though for data collection and privacy protections, not for being too big. Many Silicon Valley insiders viscerally hate the company.

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