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The Virginia Department of Health is reporting another 1,180 cases of COVID-19 today and the state remains at a percent positivity at five percent. In the Blue Ridge Health District, there are another 28 cases reported. Another death has been reported from Louisa for a total of 77 in the district. The percent positivity in the district is at 2.4 percent today.
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The University of Virginia has announced they will begin their spring semester on February 1 with classes ending on May 6. There would be no spring break. According to a message from Provost and Chief Operating Officer Liz Magill, the plans reflect a cautious approach.
“They also reflect our confidence in the capacity of this University and its people to continue to limit the spread and keep each other safe,” Magill said. “As we finish this semester strong and look to the future, we are ready to put those lessons to work to advance the mission of this University as safely and effectively as we can.”
This year’s semester will end on November 24 with online exams in December. The January term will be all online. No decision had been made yet on how graduation ceremonies will be conducted for both the Class of 2021 and the Class of 2020. Read more on UVA Today.
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The Charlottesville School Board met last night and heard details of a proposal to gradually return younger students to in-person instruction in early 2021 on a hybrid model. They did not take a vote. Under the proposal, pre-K, kindergarten,1st and 5th grade students would return to school two days a week beginning on January 11. Second, third, fourth and sixth grade would return on January 19. Ernest Chambers teaches health and physical education at Burnley-Moran Elementary and is a member of the committee that made the recommendation. (presentation)
“We believe that a four-day model is optimal,” Chambers said. “We are concerned about the division’s ability to staff this model. A two-day hybrid model would reduce face to face contact with teachers, but we recommend this over remaining virtual for the rest of the year.”
The presentation lays out a list of requirements for reopening, such as a duty-free lunch for teachers and a plan for how sick days and quarantine days would be handled. Another is to create a plan for transitioning back to all virtual learning if schools have to close again.
“This must be fleshed out,” Chambers said. “Do we need to close the school? The classroom? We need to work that out.”
Families would have the option to remain virtual-only. A survey will be sent to parents. The full video will be available on the city school’s YouTube Channel.
Earlier this month, the Albemarle School Board voted 4-3 to return to in-person education for Kindergarten through 3rd grade under a hybrid model beginning on November 9. This is known as Stage 3 under their rubric. Yesterday, Katherine Knott with the Daily Progress wrote a story about how more than half of eligible families want their children to go back to school at this time.
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Virginia Senator Tim Kaine said he is hopeful for a Congressional agreement on a new round of stimulus funding, but there are other issues happening that are distracting the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“We’re in the Senate this week in my view rushing a Supreme Court nomination that we should wait on until after the election, and continuing to delay action on a 5th COVID bill, a key of which has to be support for people facing problems with eviction or foreclosure,” Kaine said. “We’ve got to provide rent and mortgage support in the next COVID bill.”
Kaine said one such bill was defeated in the Senate this week. He was a guest on a panel discussion held by the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership. That’s a program of the regional planning district.
“In the Thomas Jefferson Planning District, you’ve got all kinds of challenges about affordable housing under normal pre-COVID times,” Kaine said. “It’s an area that’s had a lot of success economically but that leads to housing costs being significant in putting affordable housing out of the reach of many.”
Kaine said that nationwide more than 8 million people are facing eviction. Locally, the TJPDC is administering this region’s allocation of CARES act funding for rent and mortgage relief.
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A transit working group made up of Albemarle, Charlottesville and UVA officials talked about lessons learned as buses have been running at reduced capacity due to the need for physical distancing. Charlottesville Area Transit Director Garland Williams said CAT Director Garland Williams said his agency is using money from the CARES Act to cover the high cost of disinfecting buses.
“There needs to continue to be that level of cleaning to make sure the public feels safe when riding public transportation,” Williams said. “Our cleaning bill is fairly high. We’re at half a million dollars already and growing.”
Another topic is whether transit agencies will resume collecting fares after the pandemic. On CAT buses, passengers now enter through the side door bypassing the farebox as a safety precaution.
Albemarle County Supervisor Diantha McKeel said she wanted to know if that could be continued in the future as a way to boost ridership.
Chip Boyles, the director of the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission, said he supported such a study but said the term “fare-free” can be misleading from a budgetary standpoint.
“A lot of people think fare-free and it’s not,” Boyles said. “Somebody’s paying. It just may not be the end consumer handing a dollar bill over to the driver. Somebody’s paying, but I have seen it directly experienced where there are a lot of benefits.”
During the pandemic, that means contactless transit. It also would mean not having to pay someone to account for collecting the fares, or installing expensive fareboxes. He said fare free transit usually works in college towns where the school picks up the tab.
“Somebody writes one check instead of a million people handing over 75 cents,” Boyles said.
Williams said he believes CAT could go fare-free in the future and he is working on a pilot project. For more from the discussion, read a longer story posted on a new website I’m slowly launching.
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Now that the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors has adopted a Climate Action Plan, county staff is presenting it to various citizen groups. Last night the Places29-Rio Community Advisory Committee had a chance to learn more. The plan provides a series of strategies to help Albemarle achieve its goal of a 45 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2030 and to be emissions-free by 2050.
“Transportation according to our 2008 greenhouse gas inventory makes up about 50 percent of the climate impact from the local community, government included, and buildings are another 45 percent,” said Greg Harper, the county’s chief of environmental services.
Some of the remaining percent comes from carbon emissions that emanate from landfills. While local landfills have been closed for a couple of decades, Albemarle’s carbon footprint does include the vehicle emissions used to truck solid waste to those that are open elsewhere in Virginia.
Audrey Kocher of Places29-CAC said she would like to see more done to reduce waste.
“I think recycling is what many community members see and react to and respond to is the trash all around and I think it’s one way that we could get people engaged in the climate change issues,” Kocher said.
Andy Lowe, Albemarle’s environmental compliance manager, reminded the CAC that the county also has a Solid Waste Alternatives Advisory Committee.
“They’re tasked with this specific topic, solid waste alternatives, increasing recycling, increasing organic diversion, reducing litter,” Lowe said.
The SWAAC committee next meets on November 12.
(Above: From the Climate Action Plan)
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In one meeting today, the committee appointed to oversee over 60 projects to address safety concerns on Interstate 81 began meeting at 9 a.m. this morning. The Virginia Department of Transportation studied the entire length of I-81 in 2018 and identified nearly $2 billion in projects. The work is being funded through increased truck registration fees, a regional fuel tax, and an increase in the diesel tax that goes into effect on July 1 of next year. Some sections will be widened, in other places there will be additional lanes, and in others curves will be straightened. (agenda) (April 2019 article)
And in one meeting tomorrow, the TJPDC will hold the first of two virtual meetings to take input on the Urban Rivanna Corridor Plan, a joint planning effort between Albemarle and Charlottesville. The Rivanna River is a dividing line between the two localities. (project page)
“In and near Free Bridge, Woolen Mills, and the Pantops area, the river corridor is and will be a vibrant place where people experience a quiet and serene natural environment, enjoy healthy outdoor activities and venues, and appreciate important historic and cultural points of interest,” reads a vision statement for the plan.
October 23, 2020: UVA to return in February; Charlottesville schools might return in January; Senator Kaine on housing