Today’s episode of the show comes to you with support from the Piedmont Environmental Council, the usual sponsor of the Week Ahead newsletter. Every week they support my research into what’s happening at various meetings across the Thomas Jefferson Planning District so that the entire community can know what decisions are coming up. That’s consistent with their mission, and advances mine to make sure as many people as possible know what’s going on. Thanks to PEC for helping me get started this year.
The week begins with the Virginia Department of Health reporting another 2.599 cases of COVID-19 this morning, and the seven-day average for positive tests is 12.3 percent today. That’s a total of 12,260 new cases since our last newsletter on Thursday. The seven day average for new daily cases is at 3,612 a day.
We all now wait to see if there is a corresponding spike in cases related to Christmas gatherings, similar to the one seen after Thanksgiving. The cold weather is also a likely factor that has led to more cases being spread due to more people gathering together indoors. To give you a sense of perspective, the average number of new daily cases for the month of July was 874 a day. That number rose to 1,062 a day in October, and climbed to 1,899 in November. To date in December, the figure is 1,938 cases a day including today’s numbers.
This Friday, the division of the Virginia Health Department in charge of public health in our community will officially become known as the Blue Ridge Health District from the Thomas Jefferson Health District. Here’s a bit why from their press release in early October.
“This change reflects the District’s commitment to ensuring that public health services are inclusive and welcoming to all off of the communities served,” the release releases. “Blue Ridge Health District also aligns with other health districts in Virginia [which are] majorly named after regional geography.”
Either way, they’ve continuing to lead the response in a community that has had 7,297 cases of COVID and 91 fatalities. There has not been a death reported since Christmas Eve. Since Thursday there have been 258 new cases reported in the district. That’s 112 in Albemarle, 38 in Charlottesville, 30 in Fluvanna County, 22 in Greene County, 46 in Louisa County, and ten in Nelson County.
So far, 41,709 people in Virginia have been vaccinated so far according to the Virginia Department of Health’s new vaccination dashboard.
The Blue Ridge Health District will have one more community testing event on Wednesday in Crozet at Henley Middle School from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Call 434-972-6261 today and tomorrow to register for the free event. Details about other testing opportunities can be found here.
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A Louisa County man is dead following a shooting early Sunday morning in the 900 block of a public housing complex on South First Street. It’s the second homicide in that area in two months. When Charlottesville police responded to the scene, they found 32-year-old Jamarcus B. Washington dead. For more context, read Nolan Stout’s Daily Progress article.
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Today and this week in meeting, singular, the Board of Trustees for the Jefferson Madison Regional Library meets at 3 p.m. today on a Zoom call. On the agenda is the welcome of a familiar face to represent Albemarle on the Board. Tony Townsend was appointed by the Board of Supervisors earlier this month. He previously served on the board earlier this century, including a stint as its president.
Trustees will also talk about the library system’s response to COVID-19. JMRL shut down in-person shortly after the pandemic began in order to limit community spread. Gradually they restored circulation services to curbside appointments, but now patrons can access all facilities, but on an appointment-only basis. JMRL Director David Plunkett will conclude the meeting with his report.
Earlier this year, Plunkett acknowledged the system could change its name as well in the near future. In August, he reminded trustees that JMRL’s mission statement recently changed to reflect a more inclusive attitude.
Director David Plunkett said JMRL’s mission statement was updated to reflect an awareness of the system’s problematic past. (August 6, 2020, Community Engagement)
“The public library of today strives so hard to be free and open to the public, but that was service wasn’t available for Black families for a long time in the area here so that by your bootstraps story about public libraries being a cornerstone of education for Americans to improve their lot in life wasn’t available for Black families,” Plunkett said.
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As mentioned in the top of the audio version, today is the third day of Kwanzaa, and today’s candle is to be lit for the principle of Ujima, or collective work and responsibility. I would have liked to have had a soundbite from an interview with someone on this, but I don’t, and I have to get this thing posted for the day. But, I want to say that in 2021 I hope to broaden the kinds of sounds I’m able to bring you each day.
The pandemic certainly awoke my sense of responsibility to others. I’ve taken a leap of faith to pursue the kind of work I feel I’m supposed to be doing to help as many people as I can. I don’t profess to speak for everybody but I do come from a position of wanting life to be as meaningful and fulfilling for as many people as possible. So, let’s think about collective work and responsibility today, especially at a time during this pandemic.
December 28, 2020: COVID cases since Christmas Eve; Third day of Kwanzaa