🐳 Good morning, RVA: 134 • 27 • 10.7; free bus fares for another year; and a gracious first column back

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and, dang, how nice was yesterday? Today you can expect more of the same with sunshine and highs in the 80s. Enjoy—for at least another day, too!
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 134, 27, and 10.7, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 11 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: -1.6; Henrico: 5.3, and Chesterfield: 7.3). Since this pandemic began, 1,345 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.2%, 56.5%, and 53.0% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I thought Richmond’s data would have sorted itself out by now, but, what do I know? VDH reports a negative number of cases in Richmond for five of the last nine days!
 

For fellow data humans, VDH has updated their vaccine dashboard to now include a map of percent of the adult population with at least one dose by locality. Because I’m sure you’re curious about how our region is progressing towards the Biden Goal: 52.9%, 68.4%, and 65.2% of adults in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have had at least one jab. Henrico definitely has a chance to hit the Biden Goal before July 4th, but I’m not too sure about RIchmond and Chesterfield. I have to keep reminding myself that this goal—and it’s impact on the health of our communities—is pretty arbitrary. There are lots of real, legitimate, and complex reasons why we see differing uptake rates across differing localities.
 

I love this public transit update: GRTC will continue their free fares for (at least) another year. Yesterday, the GRTC board met and voted on a new budget which extends zero fares through June 30, 2022. That means, by then, Richmond will have had free bus service for all who care to use it for 833 days. From the aforelinked press release, the money to cover the now-missing revenue from fares will come from “federal COVID relief funds.” This is great news as it lets our region (for now) use its public transportation dollars for improving and expanding the bus system.
 

While we’re talking about it, I find this Systemwide Ridership Three Year Comparison graph endlessly fascinating. Bus ridership has already started to creep above pandemic levels, but still trails numbers from two years back—when folks had just started to use the bus system at record-breaking levels. I mean, look at these comparisons of this past May’s numbers (p. 51): they’re down 1% from a month ago, up 20% from a year ago, and down 18% from two years ago. A heckuva rollercoaster! I am really interested to see what happens to systemwide ridership when VCU returns to in-person instruction this fall. October is typically the highest-ridership month of the year, and returning students plus possibly returning office workers could also make for a big, joyous return to the bus.
 

The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Chris Suarez has some more reporting on this past Monday’s City Council meeting, specifically their conversations about how (or how not) to earmark the as-yet-received ARP money. It’s a great background piece if you’ve been ignoring this thrilling conversation for the past couple months. I am on the whole entire same page as 4th District Councilmember Larson who says of the resolution attempting to earmark future ARP funds for district-specific needs: “I personally think it’s in our best interest to vet these projects … and see if they actually qualify before we send anything to the mayor…We need to look at the whole picture and decide as a body what’s best for the whole city.” Yes! Please look at the entire city and make a cohesive plan for how best to spend this once-in-a-generation pile of cash. Important note! That does not mean we should divide this money up evenly across the whole city! I would, for example, be totally OK with a massive investment in Southside infrastructure. Equality ≠ Equity.
 

Pulitzer Prize Wining Columnist Michael Paul Williams has a very gracious first column back after winning the Pulitzer Prize. To quote a bit: “But there is undeniable joy in the recognition that Richmond, and the staff of this newspaper, are putting in long-overdue work. Now is a time to celebrate. But after we put the champagne down, there’s plenty of work that remains.”
 

VPM’s Alan Rodriguez has a piece about Critical Race Theory, the Loudoun County School Board, and our gubernatorial candidates that you should read to get an early lay of the land ahead of November’s election. While Critical Race Theory may be a real and actual thing in some academic circles, when used by Republican politicians it means nothing and is almost always an indicator of someone acting in bad faith. If you find yourself explaining, supporting, or arguing for “Critical Race Theory,” you’ve already lost. Republicans' campaign against this mostly made up thing is a poorly-executed slight-of-hand to distract from what they actually oppose: the work to make our communities a more equitable place. I’m with this quote from Loudoun County Supervisor Juli Briskman: “She calls the backlash to these reforms ‘the Massive Resistance of our generation…It’s basically along the same lines as the fear of integration, and this is just an evolution of that.’”
 

This morning’s longread

Humpback whales can’t swallow a human. Here’s why.

Read this to get well-actuallyed about whales by National Geographic.
 

On Friday, a lobster diver made headlines when he described miraculously surviving being “swallowed” by a humpback whale off Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Michael Packard told the Cape Cod Times that he felt a shove, and “the next thing I knew it was completely black.” He recalled struggling inside the whale’s mouth for about 30 seconds before it surfaced and spat him out. Though a humpback could easily fit a human inside its huge mouth—which can reach around 10 feet—it’s scientifically impossible for the whale to swallow a human once inside, according to Nicola Hodgins of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, a U.K. nonprofit.
 

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