Today’s shout-out is for the Parent-Teacher Organizations of the Charlottesville City Schools, and their request for donations to the Reopening Fund: Ready to Teach, Ready to Learn. Visit their website for more information and to make a contribution.
Publisher’s note - this installment was inadvertently set to the wrong setting, hence it is coming out later than usual.
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The state of Virginia has added another 2,770 cases of COVID-19 since Friday, with 664 of them reported this morning. There have been another 35 deaths reported since Friday for a total to date of 2,471. The seven-day average for positive tests declined to 6.4 percent today, down from 6.6 percent on Friday. In the Thomas Jefferson Health District, there have been 52 new cases reported over the weekend, including eight today. There have been two new fatalities in the district for a total of 45 to date. The seven-day average for positive tests was at 5.6 percent on Sunday, continuing a downward trend.
The latest report on the model from the University of Virginia’s Biocomplexity Institute states there could be 11,306 new cases in Virginia for the week of September 27, The report also states that “anticipated season changes in the Fall could lead to a surge beginning around Labor Day with schools and universities open.”
The report notes that both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University re-opened for in-person instruction on August 10, but have already shifted to online due to clusters of COVID infection among students. (UVa Model)
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The University of Virginia welcomed its incoming class in a virtual ceremony Sunday night. Dean of Students Allen Groves began the Convocation event by speaking into a camera rather than directly to a crowd of first-year and transfer students. (UVA Today article)
“As you are all too aware, COVID-19 has up-ended many of our traditions and plans but this doesn’t alter in any way the fact that you are starting what I hope will be one of the most memorable journeys of your life,” Groves said, promising that students would be able to walk down the Lawn when they graduate.
“While it’s true this fall that you may not get to play rugby in Mad Bowl, or enter Old Cabell Hall for an a capella concert packed with your friends, or sway with a hundred other students singing the Good Old Song, or huff and puff your way up Humpback Rocks with 25 of your closest friends, this will still be a memorable time in your life with lots of opportunities to bond with friends and enrich your mind,” Groves said. “And we will overcome the current COVID-19 challenge and be right back to doing all of these things that we love so much.”
President Jim Ryan said this year at UVA will be unlike anything before and that there would be many challenges. In-person classes are not scheduled to begin until September 8, two weeks after originally planned because of rising caseloads in the Thomas Jefferson Health District in reporter in early August. Ryan said Convocation is not about COVID but about welcoming students, no matter where they are.
“You belong here,” Ryan said. “I don’t mean by this that you need be here physically.”
Ryan’s speech contained many references to the need to wait until it is safe to have the full experience, such as office hours or large gatherings. He also urged students to eventually connect with people who live in this area.
“Look for a chance to build a bridge to the broader Charlottesville community. This is a wonderful place but like other small cities it has its challenges and a complicated history. I encourage you to learn about this history and to engage with this broader community. There are countless ways to do so, including some amazing programs at Madison House.”
Last week, the city’s Human Right Commission discussed their concerns over UVA’s opening. Kathryn Laughon is a member of the Commission.
“I would like to ask the University to not have the undergraduate students return in person,” Laughon said. “They can’t control what the students who don’t like in dorms do. Jim Ryan has said he doesn’t want to bring the students back if he doesn’t think that they are going to be able to stay for the whole semester.”
A final decision about whether to proceed with in-person classes on August 28.
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Virginia’s coastline was hit fairly hard earlier this month by Tropical Storm Isaias which spawned several tornadoes on the eastern shore and caused flooding throughout much of the Commonwealth. That’s part of a continuing trend toward a more turbulent climate. This fall, the Northam administration will release a master plan to deal with rising sea levels, which are experienced now in the form of more frequent sunny day flooding. The plan is informed by better data about where flooding occurs, data coordinated by the Commonwealth Center for Recurrent Flooding Resiliency. Retired Navy Admiral Ann C. Phillips is Northam’s Special Assistant for Coastal Adaptation and Protection.
“You can go in and look at coastal Virginia using this new nuisance flood overlay data and the intent is that it will help localities and communities better understand the context of nuisance flooding which we are seeing more and more and more of and which we will see more and more and more of in our future, and then overlay that with sea level rise projections and also with a cat 1 or a moderate Northeaster storm,” Phillips said.
Phillips said nuisance flooding today in some places will lead to permanent inundations but there can be remedies that also improve water quality. Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed legislation that strengthens the role the plan will play in Virginia’s conservation programs. Phillips made her comments Friday at the annual meeting for Resilient Virginia. The group aims to increase planning for and awareness of adaptation to a changing climate.
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In meetings today, the Board of Trustees for the Jefferson Madison Regional Library will convene virtually at 3 p.m. and among other things will discuss the system’s COVID-19 response.
The Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority meets at 6 p.m. and items include an update on the next generation of public housing in the city. The CRHA is finalizing construction contracts with the firms hired to begin work on the renovation of Crescent Halls as well as new units that will be built at South First Street. (meeting info)
The Steering Committee for the C’Ville Plans Together initiative is scheduled to meet virtually at 4 p.m. for another meeting. Jennifer Koch of the firm Rhodeside & Harwell explains what it’s all about.
"The effort that we're calling Cville Plans Together is an effort that we as a consultant are working with NDS, the Planning Commission and others to continue the update to the Comprehensive Plan that was started in 2017, 2018," Koch said. "That includes a big focus on housing and housing affordability with a specific housing plan that will be part of the housing chapter of the Comprehensive Plan."
I wrote a summary and produced a podcast of the August 11 Charlottesville Planning Commission discussion that is now the first item to be available through a premium subscription. You can support my work either through the paid subscription or through Patreon. This is all still a work in progress!
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August 24, 2020: UVa virtually welcomes students; addressing "sunny-day flooding"