Hail the to Pigskins. The football team formerly known as the Washington Redskins has punted on adopting a new permanent name this season, and will refer to itself for the time being as the Washington Football Team. The pause allows the team to “undertake an in-depth branding process” that incorporates player, alumni, fan, community and sponsor input. the team announced. What a cop-out. I’m still holding out hope for the team to rename itself the Washington Pigskins.
COVID risk metrics for school districts. The Virginia Department of Health and Virginia Department of Education are collaborating on a new COVID-19 dashboard to guide local education officials when deciding how to reopen schools this fall. The dashboard likely will include eight to 10 local metrics such as confirmed cases, percent-positive rates on tests, hospitalizations, and the number of local emergency room visits for COVID-19-like illnesses. School divisions will be flagged, red, yellow and green to indicate whether they should reopen, adopt a hybrid model, or adopt a distance-learning model, reports the Prince William Times.
One suggestion: The dashboard should include the number of people testing positive in the age ranges corresponding to elementary, middle, and high school. Given the different risk profiles for younger and older children, it makes no sense to impose a uniform policy. School boards might consider keeping elementary schools open while going online with high schools.
Economic health metrics. Meanwhile, another 37,946 Virginians have filed for unemployment claims, according to the Virginia Employment Commission. That’s up 17.5% from the previous week. All told, more than one million Virginians have filed for unemployment benefits for the first time since March. “Virginia’s preliminary weekly change — up 7,896 on a seasonally adjusted basis — was the largest increase among the states,” reports the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
