Good morning, RVA: 580↘️ • 29↗️; denominators; and protests return

Good morning, RVA! It’s 57 °F, and highs today will stick around in the mid 70s. We could see a bit of rain and clouds move through this morning, so keep an eye on that.

Water cooler

The Richmond Police Department is reporting that two people were shot and killed this past Monday. In the morning, officers were called to the 1500 block of N. 21st Street and found Stanley L. Robinson, Jr., a man in his 20s, shot to death nearby. Later that afternoon, police were also called to the 3500 block of E. Richmond Road and found Surita M. Abdul-Majid, a man in his 30s, shot to death inside a residence. According to the RPD’s website, I think these are the 43rd and 44th murders in 2020, which is on pace with last year’s numbers.

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 580↘️ new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealthand 29↗️ new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 49↘️ new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 22, Henrico: 16, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 365 people have died in the Richmond region. Note that the number of new deaths reported should still seems high to you, and that’s because VDH has extended the alert on their website about a data backlog through September 25th. You can see those recent death numbers in context on this graph generated by my new, public coronacounts Google Sheet—you can also see the unacceptable labeling of the x-axis that I just cannot figure out how to fix.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Jessica Nocera and Kenya Hunter have an update on the number of public school employees that have tested positive for COVID-19. After, I’m sure, an annoying amount of time combing through emails and PDFs, they’ve got the regional counts as at least: 21 cases in Hanover, 33 in Chesterfield, 22 in Richmond, and 30 in Henrico. Critically missing in this analysis is…the denominator! What does 106 positive cases among public school staff mean? Is it a lot? According to Nocera and Hunter, with 17,001 total positive cases across those four localities, public school staff make up less than one percent (0.6%). But how many public school staff are back to work and is 106 a big percentage of that number? How does the incidence rate among teachers compare to the incidence rate in the general public (around 1.7% if I did the math right). How does it compare to, say, grocery workers or bank tellers or waitstaff? I have no idea! But it’s really hard for me to look at a number like “106” with no context and have any sort of idea if we’re doing a good or bad job creeping toward reopening schools.

Folks returned to Richmond’s streets last night to protest a Kentucky grand jury’s decision not to file homicide charges against the police officers who shot and killed Breonna Taylor. I don’t mean to imply that there haven’t been protests in Richmond since early summer, there have, but last night’s seems like the most well attended in at least a month (although I’m having trouble keeping track of time lately). Jimmie Lee Jarvis has, of course, a long Twitter thread of photos and videos from throughout the night as does the CT’s Hannah Eason. While dozens of gear-laden riot police did show up to Protect Their House (from line dancing??) and stand in intimidating lines, it sounds like that was mostly the extent of their actions throughout the night. I think a couple protestors were either detained or arrested for unclear reasons, but, I didn’t see any explosions, clouds of gas, or wizzing rubber bullets. I’m thankful for that. I did however see plenty of mask-less cops; I count at least 11 in this one photo.

Style Weekly has a mayoral questionnaire about the Richmond Redevelopment and Housing Authority that you should read. Public Housing is one of those things in Richmond where it’s not always obvious which part of our government is responsible for which part of the process. I’m still learning, but a few things I’m keeping in mind while reading this survey: A ton of the money to support our local housing programs comes from the federal government, that said the Mayor puts together the budget which should reflect his or her priorities, and (as Councilmember Jones reminded us the other day) City Council approves that budget while alsoappointing the RRHA board—a board responsible for making sure the Authority wins those important federal dollars. Feels like an ouroboros sometimes.

I love intersection murals, and Bike Walk RVA has an application in front of the Public Art Commission today to lay down two on the Southside (PDF)—one at Hull Street & 11th Street and one at Lynhaven Avenue & Wright Avenue. Silly Genius and the All City Art Club will provide the art, some of which you’ve definitely seen pop up around town. I love this bit from All City Art Club’s about page: “Founded by Silly Genius, All City Art Club’s mission is to introduce street art to underserved communities without the goal of tourism or gentrification. Residents should not have to be pushed out in order to make a community beautiful.”

Via /r/rva, look at this render? drawing? actual old photo of City Hall? with a park on the Marshall Street side of the building. Did this actually exist before the Social Services building got built?? Regardless, now I get why the “back” of City Hall looks so much like it should be the front.

First, there’s a free COVID-19 testing event today at the Randolph Community Center(1415 Grayland Ave) from 9:00 AM–11:00. This one is not rain-or-shine and has a back-up rain location, so keep an eye on the sky! Second, it is definitely flu season—like, regular ol' flu, not, fingers crossed, pandemic flu. As such, our local health district will kick off their free flu vaccination clinics for uninsured and underinsured folks on October 2nd. Spread the word, not the virus!

This morning’s longread

The Big and the Small

How big is big and how small is small is something that our human brains have a really hard time understanding. This piece will momentarily help, but your dumb brain will instantly forget the second you finish reading.

The problem with humans talking about sizes is we just don’t have the right words to do it correctly. We can try our best, calling the biggest things “enormous” or “huge” or “vast,” but those are the same words we use to describe elephants or mountains or the ocean. We can try to describe the smallest things by calling them “tiny” or “microscopic”—but those words describe a grain of sand and an amoeba, which are both huge, vast, and enormous compared to all the far smaller objects. Adjectives just aren’t gonna do the job here. So instead, let’s work our way from the biggest to the smallest using a series of steps, and maybe that’ll work better.

If you’d like your longread to show up here, go chip in a couple bucks on the ol’ Patreon.