Good morning, RVA: 5,227 • 54; a lot of anxious people; and A-10 basketball coming to Richmond

Good morning, RVA! It’s 26 °F, and it snowed! Kind of! There’s a winter weather advisory in effect until 8:00 AM, so take your time and watch for slippery roads and sidewalks. However, it’s looking more and more like we might get another chance for real snow on Sunday. Fingers crossed!

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 5,227 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 54 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 522 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 216, Henrico: 198, and Richmond: 108). Since this pandemic began, 662 people have died in the Richmond region. Yesterday, at the Governor’s COVID-19 briefing, we learned three interesting things. First, he’ll extend the restrictions on gatherings and the 12:00–5:00 AM curfew (that I had honestly forgotten all about) through the end of February. Second, Virginia should expect a 16% increase in its supply of vaccine from the feds, not 5% like I said yesterday. That’s about 17,000 additional doses and is, in fact, more than enough to vaccinate one Siegel Center of people—but still clearly not a overabundance of additional vaccine. Sounds like we should continue to expect austerity levels of vaccine for at least the next several weeks. Third, the Governor directed local health districts to allocate the limited supply of vaccine that they do have in the following way: 50% going to people aged 65 and older; and 50% going to the entire rest of Phase 1b (frontline essential workers, folks with underlying conditions or disabilities that increase the severity of COVID-19, and people living in certain congregate settings). Personal opinion here, taken together, the second and third thing will result in a lot of very anxious people. The governor has told a vast swath of Virginians, something like 50% of the entire state!, that they are eligible for vaccination as part of Phase 1b. Simultaneously, he’s halved the number of doses available for those folks, doses which were already in extremely short supply. We’re left in a situation where a huge number of people are eligible but will almost certainly be unable to access the vaccine. Hence a lot of very anxious people. Mel Leonor at the Richmond Times-Dispatch has a few more details from the press conference.

Yesterday, the City announced that the Mayor himself has tested positive for the coronavirus. It’s gotta be weird to give a quote about your own personal health situation in a press release, but here’s what Mayor Stoney had to say: “Since the coronavirus first started to spread in our region roughly a year ago, over 12,000 residents in our city have been infected with COVID-19. Today, I count myself as one of them…While I do not feel 100 percent, I am thankful that my symptoms are currently manageable and will continue to work from my home to ensure the continuity of city government.” Understandably, the Mayor will postpone his State of the City address until Thursday, February 11th.

Tyler Thrasher at WRIC reports that RRHA held a community meeting on the next steps of redeveloping Creighton Court. I want to learn more about this! It sounds like folks in this initial phase will need to relocate (to somewhere?) so that the existing structures can be torn down and replaced and will then move back in “by 2023.” I’m all for replacing our aging public housing, but we need to get the details right—which has been a constant struggle over the past…forever.

Graham Moomaw at the Virginia Mercury reports that the Virginia Senate voted to censure Chesterfield’s Senator Amanda Chase yesterday. While it’s embarrassing, I don’t think I really understand what practical impact “censure” has on a sitting senator—especially in this present political moment where it could even be viewed as a badge of honor by certain folks. The move to strip away her committee assignments, which already happened, seems like it has more impact on her day-to-day. Anyway, embarrassing for Chase, embarrassing for Chesterfield, and embarrassing for the Commonwealth.

At any other time I’d be stoked on this news from the RTD’s John O’Connor who reports that the A-10 men’s basketball tournament “looks as though it’s headed to VCU’s Siegel Center and the University of Richmond’s Robins Center.” College basketball tournaments are a ton of fun, and I think, under normal circumstances, Richmond would make a fantastic host. Now though, I won’t be able to attend one in my own dang city featuring my own dang teams, and folks that do attend will bring with them increased risk of spreading COVID-19 to our neighbors and communities.

This morning’s longread

Op-Ed: Let’s Show Confidence In Mr. Kamras!

Amy Wentz has a pro-Kamras op-ed in RVA Mag. Read this piece to understand what folks are using to argue against extending the Superintendent’s contract for four years and how a lot of those arguments are misleading at best.

We say that we want systemic and structural change, but to do so, we must understand and commit to doing this work for the long haul. Mr. Kamras came on board in February of 2018. That’s only one complete instructional year to assess before the pandemic hit and we were forced into a virtual environment. This is how we sound: “FIX OUR SCHOOLS! But you can’t adjust the curriculum, you can’t adjust teacher schedules, you can’t hire your own staff, you can’t adjust the calendar.” The way we fix schools is to be honest in our assessments. If you can’t even give credit where it’s due and have to inflate the facts to make your points, it’s a disservice to students. Let’s identify what we are getting wrong, and work with our school board to put the right measures in place to hold our Superintendent accountable. We can’t just continue to throw the whole thing away every few years.

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