To begin with, I want to draw attention to my friend Charlene Munford’s Go Fund Me campaign to help take her Monster Cleaning business to the next level. Earlier this year, Charlene tackled a huge job at my house, clearing and cleaning a basement gone wrong. Take a look at her story and see what you can do.
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The number of COVID-19 cases in Virginia has increased by another 1,429 cases today and the percent positivity rate for PCR tests has increased to 5.3 percent, up from 5.1 percent yesterday. The number of reported deaths increased by 20 to a total of 3,636. The seven-day average of new cases is now 1,154.
The Blue Ridge Health District reports another 29 cases today, with ten from Charlottesville, 8 from Albemarle, six from Louisa, three from Nelson, and two from Fluvanna. The seven day daily average of new cases is 28. There has not been a new fatality reported since last Friday, and so the death toll remains at 77. The seven day average for positive tests in the district remains at 2.7 percent today. The average for all tests in the district is 3 percent.
The University of Virginia reports 59 active cases as of yesterday, and 45 of those are students. Four percent of quarantine rooms are in use as are two percent of isolation rooms.
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A spike in cases in southwest Virginia prompted Governor Ralph Northam to address the Commonwealth yesterday, and he urged everyone to be vigilant.
“Case numbers are rising in most states and around the world,” Northam said. “In other states and other countries, they are re-imposing restrictions to get case numbers under better control. Nobody, nobody wants to have to do that but this virus remains a very real threat.”
Northam said the Virginia Department of Health is working with local health officials in southwest Virginia to address the issue. He said he is aware of COVID fatigue.
“Most people are doing the right thing and they are tired of seeing other folks disregard the rules and disregard the health and safety of other people, “ Northam said.
Northam announced an additional $30 million in federal CARES Act funding will go into the Rebuild Virginia grant program which is providing money to eligible businesses.
“We’re upping the maximum grant amount of $100,000, up from $10,000,” Northam said.
Northam had other things to announce as well. The General Assembly’s special session has ended and he has had legislation to sign.
“Today Virginia becomes just the third state to ban no-knock warrants,” Northam said. “These reforms also reduce militarization of police equipment, standardize law enforcement training requirements and strengthen the process to decertify officers when needed.”
You can hear more from Northam later today in the next installment of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report.
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Top officials from the University of Virginia met with elected leaders yesterday to discuss equity issues as well as the pandemic. This was the first time that President Jim Ryan addressed Albemarle Supervisors and Charlottesville City Councilors at a meeting.
“I believe that making our communities more equitable and inclusive is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do,” Ryan said. “You may have heard me say that I think the University of Virginia should be both great and good and for that to happen, we absolutely need to be a diverse, inclusive and equitable community but we also need to be a good partner to Charlottesville and Albemarle County.”
The three entities learned about efforts made in the past year including the President’s Council for UVA-Community Partnerships and the Equity Institute.
“That brings faculty and community expertise to bear on racial and economic inequities,” Ryan said. “And it’s also why we’re planning to do a review of our staff, hiring, retention, promotion and procurement policies to make sure those are equitable.”
Charlottesville Mayor Nikuyah Walker said she was glad that the meeting between the three groups was taking place.
“If we are more in synch, [we] can create a better life for the citizens in our community,” Walker said. “I am often saying, especially in the time that we’re in now, the unprecedented time that people keep speaking of, wondering how we prevent historians in the future from saying that these are things that we could have done differently.”
I’ll be producing a special report about the meeting that should hopefully be available by the end of the day tomorrow.
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An organization that connects Charlottesville school students with agriculture has received a five year half-million grant from the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation. The Charlottesville School Yard Garden will use the $500,000 Shaping Futures Grant to help improve overall community health by promoting health outcomes.
"That group’s project is designed to improve the health of Charlottesville youth through healthy school meals, engagement in school gardens, and cultivating leadership and lifelong healthy living skills," reads a release from the CACF.
The School Yard Garden became part of the Cultivate Charlottesville organization earlier this year. In all there are nine sites across the city including one at City of Promise.
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Today in meetings, the only item on the calendar is a meeting on the Urban Rivanna River Corridor Plan that is being coordinated by the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission. The Rivanna serves as the border between Albemarle and Charlottesville.
“This is a joint planning process between the county of Albemarle and the city of Charlottesville to create a vision and implementation strategy for what the urban section of the Rivanna River should look like,” said Sandy Shackelford with the TJPDC. “The goal is to balance a lot of different interests that people have with using the river and making sure that the river continues to be a valuable asset to the community moving forward.”
This is the second phase of the study. The first took a look at existing conditions and was published in late 2018. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. (details)
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October 29, 2020: Northam reminds Virginia of continued COVID threat; Albemarle, Charlottesville and UVA leaders talk equity