In today’s Patreon-fueled shout-out: The Rivanna Conservation Alliance is looking for a few good volunteers to help out on Clean Stream Tuesdays, a mile and a half paddle and clean-up to remove trash and debris from popular stretches of the Rivanna River. Trash bags, trash pickers, gloves, and hand sanitizer/wipes will be provided, though volunteers will need to transport themselves to and from the end points. Kayaks for the purpose can be rented from the Rivanna River Company. Visit the Rivanna Conservation Alliance's volunteer page to learn more about upcoming dates.
On today’s show:
An update from the University of Virginia Health System on concerns about the Delta variant
A quick preview of the General Assembly special session on Monday
Piedmont Housing Alliance has submitted two rezoning proposals in Charlottesville
For the past three days, the Virginia Department of Health has reported over a thousand new cases of COVID-19 each day, with 1,178 new cases listed today. The seven-day percent positivity has increased to 5.1 percent and the seven day average for new cases has increased to 869. On June 30, those numbers were 1.6 percent and 172 respectively.
Since June 1, there have been 18,462 cases reported. Of that amount, there have been 757 hospitalizations and 79 deaths. Of those cases, 97.1 percent are in people who are not fully vaccinated. Of those deaths, all but 5 were of people unvaccinated.
The increase is likely due to the prevalence of the Delta variant. The Washington Post reported yesterday that the Centers for Disease Control had an internal analysis that the variant is perhaps as contagious as the virus that causes chickenpox. Dr. Patrick Johnson is an infectious disease specialist at the University of Virginia.
“The Delta variant seems to create larger amounts of virus in the upper airways in patients that it infects and that makes it more possible for people who have the Delta variant to infect other people,” Dr. Jackson said. “And unfortunately, vaccination, while it is protective, is less protective against ongoing transmission than we were hoping.”
Dr. Jackson said vaccination still offers protection against COVID symptoms getting worse.
“So one place that we see this quite clearly is from the United Kingdom,” Jackson said. “They had quite a significant number of surges from the Delta variant but really a very modest increase in the number of deaths from COVID-19 even with those increased cases.”
Is it time to consider booster shots for COVID-19? Dr. Jackson said the global supply of vaccines needs to be factored in as those public health decisions are made.
“I think one consideration about giving third doses to everyone in an age category is that even if you are purely U.S. centric, at some point we need to acknowledge that low rates of vaccination around the world are a problem for us,” Dr. Jackson said. “The more SARS-COV-2 replicates in other parts of the world, the more variants we are likely to see.”
Eric Swensen is a public information officer for the UVA Health System who said tis morning that about 80 percent of their staff are vaccinated.
“Beginning on Monday for people on our staff who are not vaccinated, they will be subject to mandatory weekly testing so that’s how we’re handling that moving forward,” Swensen said.
On Monday, the General Assembly will convene to fill judicial vacancies and to approve the spending of $4.3 billion in federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Governor Ralph Northam has spent this week outlining his proposals for the money and here’s that list courtesy of a legislative report from the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission.
$250 million for the Rebuild VA program
$50 million for the tourism industry, which may or may not include funding for agencies such as the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau
$53 million for the Industrial Revitalization Fund, including the Virginia Main Street program
$250 million for upgrading ventilation systems in public schools
$485 million in investments for the behavioral health system
Delegates and Senators will not be allowed to suggest amendments to the proposals. Both Houses convene at noon on Monday. (schedule)
(story updated - see comments)
The Piedmont Housing Alliance will soon file two applications to rezone two properties on Park Street in the city of Charlottesville for below-market housing projects. The nonprofit entity is working with Park Street Christian Church on a proposal to build 50 units for seniors behind existing church buildings.
They’re also working with the Monticello Area Community Action Alliance (MACAA) to rezone that agency’s property at 1025 Park Street for 65 below market units, 20 market rate townhomes, and 4,700 square feet of commercial space to allow MACAA to continue to operate on the site. There are community meetings for both rezoning proposals on August 10 at 5:30 p.m. either virtually on Zoom or in-person at the Charlottesville High School library. In both, the request is for Planned Unit Development. The concept plans for both were created by BRW Architects.
Charlottesville City Council denied a previous rezoning for the MACAA property in November 2017 that would have seen construction of a 141-unit assisted living facility on the site. (Read a Charlottesville Tomorrow story from then)
A Charlottesville dermatologist has been sentenced to 12 months probation and home confinement on three counts of using her Drug Enforcement Agency registration number to acquire Demerol. According to a release from the United States Attorney’s office for the Western District of Virginia, Dr. Amalie Shaffner Derdeyn pled guilty to the charges in March, which included using the registration numbers of other physicians.
A German company that owns the manufacturer of the pesticide Roundup has agreed to stop selling the product to residential customers in the United States beginning in 2023 in order to limit its legal liabilities. Bayer purchased the company Monsanto in June 2018 and two months later a jury in San Francisco awarded $80 million in damages to a man who had claimed the active ingredient of glyphosate was the cause of his cancer and that the risks of using the product were not sufficiently labeled. That award was eventually reduced to $21 million on appeal but that was just one of thousands of lawsuits about Roundup. Bayer plans to appeal the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Even if Justices do not select the case or uphold the verdict, the replacement of glyphosate will happen in 2023 according to a July 29 post on Bayer’s website.
“The company and its partners will replace its glyphosate-based products in the U.S. residential Lawn & Garden market with new formulations that rely on alternative active ingredients beginning in 2023, subject to a timely review by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state counterparts,” reads the press release. “This move is being made exclusively to manage litigation risk and not because of any safety concerns.
The company will continue to sell Roundup to professional companies and the agricultural sector.
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July 30, 2021: Delta variant fueling rise in COVID cases; Piedmont Housing Alliance seeking two rezones on Park Street