Category: Health Care
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COVID Deaths Are Way Down. Wear Masks to Keep Them Down.
by James A. Bacon The number of new deaths in Virginia attributed to the COVID-19 virus fell to three yesterday, according to data published this morning on the Virginia Department of Health COVID-19 dashboard. That’s the lowest number since April 6. Meanwhile, the number of COVID-19 patients being treated in hospitals fell to 857, the…
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It’s Good to Be King
by James A. Bacon Wise King Ralph, in his wisdom, announced yesterday that he would delay implementation of the Phase 3 rollback of emergency economic-lockdown measures. He reached that decision even though Virginia’s COVID-19 metrics show that the epidemic is receding rapidly. Unfortunately, despite declaring previously that he would be guided by those very same…
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From Moon Walking to Slow Walking
by Kerry Dougherty I’m tired of writing about Gov. Ralph Northam. I wish he’d stop doing dumb things so we could all go back to ignoring him. But here we go again. This time it’s another Northam bait-and-switch. What is it with this governor? He claims to worship at the altar of science and numbers…
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VDH Playing Catch Up
by Carol J. Bova The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) has made two major recent changes on the COVID-19 dashboard. On June 15, under Race and Ethnicity in the demographics tab, VDH moved about 20,000 cases between categories and added 380 total new cases. Category Cases reduced by… …
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COVID Update: Masks, Libertarians and Bureaucrats
by James A. Bacon More good news from the latest COVID-19 data dump: The number of new hospitalizations reported by the Virginia Department of Health fell to 25 yesterday, and the number of deaths reported declined to five. We’re back to the levels of early April — more evidence that Governor Ralph Northam can relax…
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Learning to Live with the Virus
by James A. Bacon There’s been a lot of recent discussion in the media about a “second wave” of the COVID-19 virus this fall when days grow shorter and temperatures drop. Maybe it will happen, but I doubt it will be as virulent or as deadly as the first wave. I’m optimistic we’re making significant…
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EVMS Doc Saves Lives with New COVID-19 Treatment Protocol
by James A. Bacon Paul Marik, chief of pulmonary and critical care medicine at the Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS), is part of a group, the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Consortium, which says that application of a new therapeutic protocol can dramatically reduce mortality rates of the coronavirus. In a paper outlining the EVMS’…
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Medical Doctors and Spin Doctors
by Kerry Dougherty Someone find me a lawyer. I think I have whiplash. Not sure you can sue the World Health Organization, though, for acting more like political spin doctors than medical ones. Perhaps you heard. On Monday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist and head of the WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit and…
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Why Do 58 Nursing Homes Lack PPE?
by Carol J. Bova The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) publishes COVID-19 data reported by nursing homes as of May 31. Only five Virginia facilities reported not having enough essential supplies for current use, but that still put the safety of 554 residents plus an unknown number of staff members at risk for COVID-19…
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COVID-19 Update: Good News, the Virus is Less Deadly
by James A. Bacon The COVID-19 data is looking great. Time to partaaaay! Just kidding, boys and girls, we do not need another Ozark pool-party moment. You still need to wear your masks and keep your social distance. But the evidence does suggest that Virginia can quickly wind down many of the remaining restrictions on…
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“Systemic Racism?” Damned Right!
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in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Media, Politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Social Services and Entitlements, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka There has been much debate on this blog regarding whether there is “systemic racism” in Virginia and the rest of the country. It’s a crucial question in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed African American who was killed on video by a white Minneapolis police officer…
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Did Protesters Spread the Virus? Too Early to Tell
by James A. Bacon I have read some speculation that Virginia might see an uptick in COVID-19 cases following the mass protests in defiance of limits on gatherings. Given the delays between the infection of a person, the time at which he or she shows symptoms, and the time he or she is tested and…
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A Better Alternative to Police Force
By Dick Hall-Sizemore I have been thinking a lot about a Washington Post article and accompanying police body camera footage. In that footage, a black man is pacing around and around in the middle of a street talking loudly, mostly incoherently. He is not being confrontational, but he is not cooperating, either. Several white Fairfax…
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Gunning Up Virginia’s Cops
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in Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Defense, National Security, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Federal issues, Government Finance, Gun rights, Mental illness and substance abuse, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race RelationsBy Peter Galuszka In 2014, the Sheriff’s Department of York County and Poquoson got their very own tank-like vehicle, called a “Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP).” Fully armored and tan in color with steep sides, it looks like something out television footage of the war in Iraq where U.S. troops needed to get through mine-infested…
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Virginia Regulations for the Licensure of Nursing Facilities Violate Virginia Law
James C. Sherlock The weaknesses of Virginia’s nursing facility (NF) and skilled nursing facility (SNF) system have been exposed by COVID-19 with deadly consequences. Virginia’s licensing regulations applicable to these facilities are both part of the problem and violate Virginia law. This essay recommends an straightforward permanent fix that will bring Virginia regulations into compliance…