🐄 Good morning, RVA: 989 • 11; an adopted budget; and a Northside cow

Good morning, RVA! It’s 38 °F, and highs today are still stuck in the low-to-mid 60s. Starting tomorrow and through the weekend, though, we should see highs in the 70s, 80s, and, maybe, even 90s. Get stoked for porches.

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 989 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 11 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 34 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 2, Henrico: 16, and Richmond: 16). At his presser yesterday, the Governor continued his push toward a May 15th move into Phase One of recovery. VPM has video of the briefing plus David Streever has the written recap. As per the last forever, Governor Northam leaned heavily on the percent positivity graph and defended Virginia’s cellar-dweller testing rate—which, to be fair, has significantly increased over the last couple of weeks. New yesterday, the Governor “confirmed he’ll use a regional approach to reopening the state…following feedback from leaders in Northern Virginia who say they aren’t ready.” Not so fast, Richmonders eager to continue sheltering in place! While the Gov keeps saying his metrics and goals for moving into Phase One are a floor not a ceiling, it does sound like some amount of regional coordination is needed if a city or county wanted to deviate from the May 15th plan. Here’s a quote from the Washington Post over the weekend: “Alena Yarmosky, a spokeswoman for Northam, said the governor requested the letter [from Northern Virginia localities] to avoid a situation where neighboring localities had different policies that could reduce their effectiveness.” Hmmmm, can you think of any neighboring localities that may have differing policies in how they want to move forward during this crisis? Oh, I don’t know, maybe an urban city with vastly different demographics and needs surrounded by suburban and rural counties? Virginia’s independent cities system strikes again! Meanwhile, at the national level, the New York Times says Dr. Fauci “intends to warn the Senate on Tuesday that Americans would experience ‘needless suffering and death’ if the country opens up too quickly.”

Mayor Stoney announced a COVID-19 health equity pilot which, with some support from the state, has collected 20,000 face masks and 20,000 bottles of hand sanitizer to distribute in Richmond’s underserved neighborhoods. Here’s the Mayor on why focusing on these communities is important: "COVID-19 isn’t singular in its disproportionate effect on communities of color with high poverty rates…The healthcare disparities highlighted by this pandemic are a manifestation of historic injustices, which we can help address with targeted, equity-driven efforts like this program.” He’s obviously not wrong! In the Richmond region, Black people represent a higher percentage of coronavirus positive cases, hospitalizations, and deaths than they do of the population (35%, 55%, and 44% respectively, compared to 32% of the regional population).

Last night, City Council adopted the FY21 budget! Mark Robinson at the Richmond Times-Dispatch says the budget vote split Council 5–4 (YES: Addison, Lynch, Robertson, Newbille, Jones; NO: Gray, Hilbert, Larson, Trammell), as dissenters said “it didn’t adequately account for fallout from the pandemic.” Robinson says The Group of Four wanted to delay the vote for two weeks to “review and make adjustments,” but none of them proposed any amendments in the several weeks leading up to last night’s vote. I don’t necessarily disagree that some of the revenue projections in the now-adopted budget are “wildly optimist”—Hilbert’s words—but, in my view, best to move on with what we’ve got and adjust as we start to see actual revenues trickle in. Normally we celebrate on Budget Day, today we…I don’t know…quietly nod in acknowledgment? Anyway, I’m looking forward to the continually updated revenue projections and the procedure for those promised monthly budget check-ins. I mean, in some ways, it’s like we’ve extended budget season to last an entire year, right? SIlver lining?

Also, Council adopted RES. 2020-R030 which removes marijuana from the substance detection testing for City employees and potential City employees. That’s great news, and brings the City’s hiring process in line with Virginia’s July decriminalization of marijuana. Speaking of, I wonder if there will be added pressure to fully legalize marijuana come next year’s General Assembly session as the state desperately looks for more sources of revenue. The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission will theoretically issue a report on this very thing in December. 🤔

I must quote this story in the RTD at length, “A 5-month-old red and white Holstein calf was found wandering in North Richmond over the weekend. The 1,200-pound cow, which the staff of Richmond Animal Care and Control named Buttercup, was discovered in the 2200 block of Barton Avenue, according to social media posts from both RACC and Richmond police. Several Fourth Precinct officers responded to the scene, while a RACC officer lassoed the calf. Officer Amanda Acuff, with the police department’s mounted unit, brought a horse trailer and took Buttercup to the police’s horse barn, where it was placed in a stall beside the mounted unit’s horses, Scooter, Toby, Jimmy and Aslan.” Don’t worry, Buttercup has a nice new, permanent home, and you can see a few pictures of Buttercup over on Richmond Animal Care & Control’s instagram.

Tonight at 6:00 PM you can join the final Richmond Urbanism Happy Hour of RVA Bike Month. They’ve rounded up Max Hepp-Buchanan and Tara FitzPatrick to talk about biking with your family—logistics, safety concerns, trip planning, how to keep tiny humans from wobbling into oncoming traffic, all sorts of stuff. Tune in tonight, and maybe check out the rest of the RVA Bike Month events.

This morning’s longread

The Futile Search For A Magic Number That Says It’s Safe To Reopen

Oh look, an apropos longread about the necessity for testing and then the social infrastructure to support folks who end up testing positive and need to be isolated.

Forman said that until daily testing rates dramatically increase, states need to deploy tests strategically. This means carrying out testing at three levels. First, individual: Everyone with COVID-19 symptoms should be able to confirm their condition. Second, hot spots: If a handful of positive cases appear in the same apartment building or workplace, everyone else at the site should be tested immediately. And third, predictive: High-risk sites, such as nursing homes, churches and meatpacking plants, should be tested on a regular basis to catch cases before patients report symptoms. “You have to do all three,” Forman said. “If you’re only testing people with symptoms, you’re missing all the asymptomatic spreaders.” A strategic testing regime will also require policy support. Without paid sick leave, people who don’t show symptoms may decide to keep working even after testing positive. Without quarantine locations, patients may stay at home and end up infecting their families, who could then spread the virus to schools or workplaces.

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This morning’s Instagram