Tag: COVID-19
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Virginia Leads Nation in Distributing Rent-Relief Funds
by James A. Bacon Virginia has done a better job than any other state in distributing its share of $46.5 billion in federal COVID-relief aid to renters, according to Treasury Department data published in the Wall Street Journal. Virginia has gotten 53% of its dollars into the hands of renters and landlords compared to 10%…
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Bacon Bits: Follow Ups
Facebook face plant. On more than one occasion, I have complained on Bacon’s Rebellion that Facebook had blocked advertisements promoting the blog on the social media platform. I conflated the restrictions with the de-platforming experienced by other conservative outlets. I can now report that after a brain-numbing exercise, that Bacon’s Rebellion is now qualified to…
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Correction: Vaccination Advantage Exaggerated
by Steve Haner Twenty to one? Where did that math challenged fellow get that? Oh, wait, I am the math challenged fellow and I have to offer a big correction to my post from yesterday. Yes, the advantage to being vaccinated is evident in that new data set on the Virginia Department of Health dashboard,…
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COVID Bringing Out the Ugly in Americans
by Kerry Dougherty You know what America needs right now? A little less schadenfreude. A little less rejoicing over the misfortunes of others. A little less wishing death on the unvaccinated. A little less fist pumping when an unvaccinated person gets sick. This unattractive character trait was on display last fall when a group of…
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VDH Data: Vaccinated Improve Odds by 20 to 1
According to the Virginia Department of Health’s count, just more than 400 fully-vaccinated patients have ended up in a Virginia hospital with a case of COVID-19, and 83 have died. This was the count for the period of January 17 to August 14 and represented five percent or less of the total hospital cases and…
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What’s the Best COVID Metric — Vaccinations or Antibodies?
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia has “disenrolled” 49 students who had registered for fall classes but failed to comply with the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Another 184 temporary waivers were granted to students who have had trouble getting vaccinated, according to The Washington Post. University officials say that fewer than one percent…
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Challenging JMU with a Slingshot
by Joe Fitzgerald The reasons Jake Conley might win are moral and the reasons he might lose are legal. Jake Conley is the Breeze editor suing JMU over FOIA requests the student newspaper made for the location of Covid cases on campus. Call it the Dorms to Avoid suit. JMU declined to provide the info,…
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The New Normal: COVID Ain’t Going Away
by James A. Bacon The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is surging in Virginia, driving continued controversy over mask and vaccination mandates. As has been the case throughout the 18 months of the epidemic here, the media is focusing on the number of cases, which undeniably has increased sharply. The seven-day moving average is up…
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Carilion’s Opportunity to Advance the Knowledge About COVID
by James A. Bacon Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic, the leading health care system in western Virginia, will try using the carrot and the stick in a campaign to elevate the percentage of employees who have been vaccinated for COVID-19, reports The Roanoke Times. Vaxxed employees will receive $150 in their Oct. 15 paycheck, while unvaxxed employees will be…
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Victory for Zywicki
by James A. Bacon George Mason University has granted Todd Zywicki a medical exemption from its mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The law school professor had sued the university, which had denied him an exemption, on the grounds that, as a COVID survivor, he had acquired natural immunity to the virus and that a vaccination would…
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A COVID Report From Southside
by Dick Hall-Sizemore With the exception of Carol, the contributors to Bacon’s Rebellion (and, I am guessing, most of the commenters) are in the NoVA, Richmond, Hampton Roads bubble. Therefore, I thought it would be enlightening to bring in some COVID news from my home area, Halifax County, in Southside. The first is an article…
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Supreme Court Refuses to Block Vaccination Mandate; Judicial Review Generally
by Dick Hall-Sizemore The U.S. Supreme Court has flatly turned down a request for an injunction against the enforcement by Indiana University that all students and staff be vaccinated against COVID-19. This request was an appeal of a unanimous decision of the Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit denying the request. The order was…
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Not All COVID-Fighting Masks Are Created Equal
by James A. Bacon So, society is back to wearing masks. Governor Ralph Northam has mandated mask usage in public schools, while many universities and employers in Virginia are doing the same. The K-12 mandate does make accommodations for people who are eating, drinking, sleeping, exercising, playing a music instrument, and/or is in state of…
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Seizing and Freezing with COVID
by Paula Harkins A couple of weeks ago, I received an email from my employer requiring me to report my vaccine status. Ummmm… what?!? Let’s back up a moment. Since March 2019, I have been working from my home in Northern Virginia for a D.C. government contractor. I have limited my visits with friends, family,…
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Northam Orders Masks on Faces of Virginia Students
by Kerry Dougherty They say an advertisement is successful if you can recall the name of the product long after you’ve seen the ad. If that’s true, the 2013 Staples Back-To-School spot has to be one of the greats. I thought it was hilarious when I saw it eight years ago and I think of…