Monday, August 17, 2020
Today’s installment has a final shout-out to the CVille STEM fundraiser to pay for boxes for scientific school supplies. We’re pleased to announce they have met their $30,000 goal! Thank you for your support.
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Another day, another new set of numbers. The Virginia Department of Health reports another 734 cases of COVID-19 today, and another 4 deaths for a total of 2,385 fatalities to date. The statewide seven-day average for positive tests has dropped to 7 percent, a figure that was last reported on July 15. That’s when caseloads were in the middle of an increase in the Commonwealth. This average hit a high of 8.2 percent on July 21.
There are another 18 cases reported in the Thomas Jefferson Health District, with seven from Albemarle, two from Greene, one in Fluvanna, five in Louisa, and three in Nelson. There were no new cases reported from Charlottesville and no new deaths in the district.
The COVID-19 reproduction rate in Virginia has increased but only slightly, according to the latest model from the University of Virginia Biocomplexity Institute. The reproduction rate listed in the August 14 report is at 0.917 statewide, up from 0.909 on August 7. Numbers higher than 1 indicate higher levels of community spread.
Sixteen health districts in the Commonwealth are experiencing surges, including three in the southwest and one in the central region. The far southwest region has a reproduction rate of 1.139. In all, the model suggests that Virginia has avoided 922,941 cases since May 15 through various interventions.
The model itself has been updated this week to take into account past and current trends, and to factor in possible increases due to school reopenings and changing weather patterns. As of right now, the model is expecting a ten to twenty percent increase in transmissibility.
“With the new modeling approach, the current course predicts a peak the week of September 27th with 14,743 weekly cases,” reads the model. “With a 10 percent increase in transmissibility beginning on Labor Day, we would expect to see cases peak at 18,000 the week of October 11th. A 20 percent increase in transmissibility leads to a slightly later peak the week of October 18th with over 23,000 weekly cases.”
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So far there have been no confirmed cases of COVID-19 in meat and poultry processing facilities in Virginia this month, continuing a downward trend of infections from highs of 604 cases in April and 552 in June. The Virginia Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control worked with plant operators to put in interventions including requiring face coverings, and adding physical barriers between workers where physical distancing is not possible. In all, there were ten COVID-19 deaths related to these facilities.
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Earlier in the pandemic, a couple of physicians at the University of Virginia wrote a children’s book to explain COVID-19 to children of color. “We’re Going to Be Okay” by Dr. Ebony Jade Hilton and Dr. Leigh-Ann Webb is intended to simplify the language of this time. The book is co-created by illustrator Ashleigh Corrin Webb. They spoke about their work on a Virginia Festival of the Book webinar last week. Here’s Dr. Leigh-Ann Webb, who had never written a book before.
“This is the first time that I’ve really seen the power of that intersection of health, art, creativity and how you use those two things to connect with an audience,” said Dr. Webb.
Ashleigh Corrin Webb had ten days to draw the book.
“It was exciting, an exciting challenge and I think it was exciting because the purpose was to serve and that’s what drives me and what I do and why I do what I do,” said Corrin Webb, likening the collaboration to a dance. “I need the information. I obviously don’t have the knowledge that Ebony and Leigh-Ann have so I need that and then I’m like that give that to me and I’ll figure out how to present it in a way to hopefully make it resonate with people.”
The book is available for download.
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There are lots of government meetings today. Charlottesville City Council will meet at 6:30 p.m. and has five public hearings. The first regards a request from the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority (RWSA) for an easement for the waterline to connect the Ragged Mountain Reservoir and South Fork Rivanna Reservoir. The project is the second phase of a community water supply plan adopted by Albemarle and Charlottesville in January 2012. (staff report)
“This water line will replace the existing Upper Sugar Hollow Pipeline and increase raw water transfer in the urban water system,” reads the staff report for the item. “The water line is anticipated to be constructed between 2027 and 2040 for an estimated cost of $80 million.”
The next four are for:
A request for Dominion Energy for an easement for electrical lines at the Ragged Mountain Natural Area and the Heyward Community Forest (staff report)
A request from the International School of Charlottesville for a drainage easement for their new facility near Rives Parks (staff report)
A request from a landowner to purchase 0.13 acres of city property adjacent to Northeast Park (staff report)
A request to support the three Smart Scale applications being submitted by the Charlottesville-Albemarle Metropolitan Planning Organization. They are:
Hydraulic/29 Intersection Improvements ($24.6 million)
Hillsdale Avenue South Extension ($29.7 million)
Fifth Street Trail Hub ($3.7 million) (staff report).
Council will also hold a second reading on changing the ordinance to prohibit firearms on city property. (staff report)
Also meeting today are the Albemarle Architectural Review Board at 1 p.m. and the Places29-Hydraulic Community Advisory Committee at 530 p.m. They will get an update on the ambassadors at county parks who are there to enforce physical distancing guidelines. There will also be an update on the renovation of Charlotte Humphris Park and an update on development projects underway in the area. (meeting info)
The Louisa Board of Supervisors meets in person at 5 p.m. for a meeting that includes a report on the state of Lake Anna, an update on the Shannon Hill Regional Business Park, a discussion on an application for a solar field, and a conversation on the Trevilian Battlefield’s request for a tax exemption. (agenda)
August 17, 2020: Latest COVID info; what's on in local government; "We're Going To Be O.K."