Today is the 120th episode of a program I’ve been producing since July 13, and builds on the dozens of episodes of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. It’s all brought to you by the many people who have made a financial contribution this year to support the daily information I put together for the general public.
I sincerely appreciate it, and every new Substack subscriber or Patreon supporter helps me feel like I’ve made the right choice this year. I will continue into 2021 and beyond, and you all have my sincere thanks for making that an option. And to those who haven’t paid? That’s okay! Just make sure you send the work along to others so we can grow the audience together.
On today’s show:
Virginia posts another one-day record for COVID cases
The Blue Ridge Health District builds a big tent for vaccinations
The Virginia Department of Health gives a briefing on vaccines
Albemarle County government provides its own year in review
In the podcast, a quick sound collage of bloopers and weird sounds
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The final day of the year brings the highest case one-day count yet in Virginia with 5,239 new cases reported by the Commonwealth’s Department of Health. There have been another 48 deaths bringing the total now to 5,032 in Virginia since March. The seven-day average for positive PCR tests is now 13.2 percent, the highest that figure has been.
In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 125 new cases today, the second-highest one-day total. That figure includes 52 from Albemarle, 21 from Charlottesville, 19 from Louisa, 15 from Fluvanna, 13 from Greene, and five from Nelson.
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In a moment, we’ll hear from Ryan McKay from the Blue Ridge Health District on plans to expand the number of vaccinations administered locally. But first, members of the press had the opportunity yesterday to ask detailed questions of the person heading up Virginia’s COVID vaccination efforts. Christie Gray is the director of the immunization division at the Virginia Department of Health.
“As of this morning, December 30, Virginia had received approximately 285,000 vaccine doses from two manufacturers and has administered 54,295 doses to people in the Commonwealth,” Gray said.
However, Gray said Virginia had expected to have 370,000 doses by the end of the year, today, but failed to meet that goal. Still, doses were distributed.
“Eighteen Virginia hospitals received the initial shipment of the Pfizer vaccine the week of December 18 and is dispersing those shipments of 72,125 doses to our frontline health care workers,” Gray said. “Virginia also received approximately 140,000 doses of Moderna vaccine the week of December 23 and both the previously approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are being distributed to 96 sites geographically dispersed throughout the Commonwealth.”
Gray said Operation Warp Speed has estimated Virginia will get about 100,000 doses total from of both vaccines each week for the month of January. So far, the federal public-private partnership has failed to meet expectations.
“The actual amount of the vaccine received in Virginia is a moving target and is dependent on when and how quickly vaccination doses are manufactured,” Gray said.
Currently we are in Phase 1A, where vaccines are to be reserved by front-line health care workers and residents of long-term care facilities. This week, some employees of the Blue Ridge Health District received the shot. Across Virginia, the first long-term care residents are to have received the vaccine on-site through the partnership with CVS and Walgreens.
Gray pointed people in the direction of the new VDH vaccination dashboard, but said the numbers posted would lag behind the actual numbers.
The next decision point is to determine who exactly in Phase 1B and 1C will be in line to receive the vaccine.
“Virginia is awaiting recommendations by the Virginia Unified Command and the Virginia Disaster Medical Advisory Committee to make final recommendations on priority groups 1B and 1C,” Gray said. That could happen by the end of this week.
During the question and answer period, reporters wanted to know why there were delays in getting the vaccine distributed. Gray acknowledged the process has been slow.
“Dealing with new systems and operations at this scale it is expected to be slower at the beginning but we are expecting to increase our efficiency over time and I would like to say that 47,000 doses in two weeks is not a small number and we are proud of our Virginia providers for accomplishing that,” Gray said.
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Locally, vaccinations will be administered in the parking lot of the former KMart at the intersection of U.S. 29 and Hydraulic Road. Ryan McKay is the director of policy for the Blue Ridge Health District.
“On Monday, we begin providing access to Phase1A so it’s really non-hospital affiliated health care providers and we’re really working on that access for EMS providers, for individuals who work in dialysis centers and through Region 10 where their staff are working in residential facilities”, McKay said.
This will begin the mass vaccination campaign that the Blue Ridge Health District will run. They’re doing so with assistance from Red Light Management and the Bama Works Fund of the Dave Matthews Band. Skyline Tent will build a temporary structure under which the vaccines will be administered for several months in a large, roomy space that will allow for physical distancing.
“We established this relationship really quickly,” McKay said. “I think we met with them on site a week ago yesterday and we talked out a few different options and based on what they were able to provide this modular structure that we put up over the course of the next few days. And then we’ll open it up next week and that really allows us to maximize our staff capacity and really get people in and out as efficiently, safely, and effectively as possible. One of the rate-limiting factors in all of this is that people have to wait 15 to 20 minutes after they get vaccinated to assure they’re not going to have a severe adverse reaction like anaphylactic shock.”
Such incidents have so far been rare. McKay said there will be neighborhood level clinics as well as more and more vaccines doses are provided.
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It’s the last day of 2020, and Albemarle County has released a 15 minute video that reflects on what local government has been up to this year. (watch the video)
“Hi, I’m Jeff Richardson and I’m the county executive for Albemarle County government,” Richardson said. The video was to have been shown to the Board of Supervisors at their final meeting of the year, but an ice storm that day ended the meeting early.
“A lot of the work that has taken place over this very challenging year specifically related to COVID, the pandemic, and the response responsibilities that our government has faced over the past year.”
The video also mentions what many consider one of the most important actions taken by the Board of Supervisors this year. Here’s Siri Russell, the county’s director of Equity and Inclusion.
“Following a months-long community engagement process, the Board of Supervisors voted to remove the Confederate monument known as At Ready from Court Square,” Russell said. “So many departments came together to pull this off. So many individuals went above and beyond to really create a community moment that was safe, engaging, inclusive, and ultimately effective.”
There’s also an update from the Office of Housing. Here’s Philip Holbrook, housing program manager.
“This year we’ve been busy, we’ve been able to accomplish a lot even in the midst of COVID,” Holbrook said. “The “[Housing Choice Voucher] 90 is probably one of our biggest program pushes that we’ve been doing which is an ongoing program that we’ve had for years, however, we’ve been expanding the number of local families that we’ve been able to provide subdisides to through our housing choice voucher program. Ninety new families are going to receive vouchers by the end of 2020.”
Take a look at the full video to learn more about what various departments in Albemarle have been up to. Let’s close it out with Jeff Richardson
“In closing it’s been an unbelievable year,” Richardson said. “We have a phenomenal community that is very resilient and we have an organization that continues to be prepared to serve our citizens and residents of this county. I could not be more proud of our organization. I wish you the best and we are all excited about 2021.”
December 31, 2020: Blue Ridge Health District announces vaccination plans; Albemarle's year in review