🎸 Good morning, RVA: Disappointing vax news, a mysterious metal box, and Richmond circa 1996

Good morning, RVA! It’s 28 °F, and winter weather is back. Today you can expect highs in the mid 40s—about 25 degrees colder than the end of this past week. Temperatures could warm up a bit this weekend, but, for now, expect cool, clear skies and lots of boots and flannels.
 

Water cooler

On Friday, Pfizer announced that, in ongoing trials, their two-dose formulation of the COVID-19 vaccine for the youngest kids “did not produce a robust immune response in kids 2 to 5 years old.” They’ll now expand those clinical trials to evaluate a three-dose situation, with data expected…”the first half of 2022.” Ugh. This is absolutely crushing news for parents of young kids who’d expected to open up 2022 by vaccinating the rest of the family but are now staring down another six months of stress, anxiety, and uncertainty. I mean, we’re all feeling those things, of course, but having an unvaccinated tiny human running around in the world spreads another thick, sticky layer of feelings right on top. For some reassuring words, which I know feel hollow and repetitive at this point, read this first paragraph from Emily Oster’s newest email: “I know there are some parents who are devastated by this delay, and I hear you. But I also want to reassure you that children in this age range are at extremely low risk for serious illness, substantially lower than with your own vaccine. I know I’ve said that before, and I know it is not enough, but it is still important to remember.” For parents of older kids that may still have concerns about the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, keep reading Oster’s newsletter for a look into vaccine safety data. Finally, Katelyn Jetelina sent out another Omicron update a couple days go that’s worth reading. Some good news: “We are seeing hospitalizations and deaths increase in South Africa, but they are at lower rates than before. In Gauteng— South Africa’s epicenter— hospitalizations are about 45% than what they were for Delta.” We still don’t know what kind of hospitalization rates we’ll see in the United States (where boosters are a bit more common), but, as before, it looks we’re about to find out using New York City as the test case.
 

Also COVID-related, VCU has had to cancel its last two men’s basketball games due to COVID-19 protocols. We’re headed into a kind of dead zone for college basketball, when the consequences of cancelling games is far less than they would be during the conference schedules (which begin in a couple of weeks). I’m interested in if we start seeing college football cancellations, too. Bowl Season has just kicked off, and the incentives to play those games—no matter what—will be real, real high.
 

Richmond’s Planning Commission meets today and will discuss ORD. 2021–351, the ordinance to officially accept the Lee Circle from the State, making it City-owned property. I imagine the Commission will recommended this for approval without a need for discussion! Also of note on the agenda, a “Richmond 300 Annual Report” which sounds fascinating and worth a listen. The presentation isn’t up on the City’s website yet, but I’ll take a note to check back tomorrow.
 

Speaking of Lee Circle, the Governor’s office announced that the crew working to dismantle the plinth may have found the mysterious time capsule. If the random box found sealed within the statue is the time capsule—honestly, what else could it be??—it will “be transported to the Department of Historic Resources, so it can be opened using best practices for historic preservation to maintain the integrity of the artifacts.”
 

Gregory J. Gilligan has the details on the Governor’s Major Economic Development Announcement at CoStar from this past Friday. As foretold, CoStar will build a new office building—26 stories!—but instead of putting it in the Navy Hill footprint as previously discussed, they’ll plop it down just behind their existing facility near the canal. CoStar expects to start construction next year and to wrap up in 2024. Tap through for a cool rendering of what our new skyline could look like.
 

Via /r/rva a video tour around the VCU area circa 1996. You’ll definitely recognize some spots, but whoa have things changed over the last 20+ years!
 

This morning’s longread

How a Cream Cheese Shortage Is Affecting N.Y.C. Bagel Shops

SERIOUS STUFF.
 

But for about three weeks now, dairy suppliers said, the cream cheese orders they have placed with manufacturers have come up short. “I’ve never been out of cream cheese for 30 years,” said Joseph Yemma, the owner of F&H Dairies in Brooklyn, a dairy product distributor for many of the city’s bagel shops. “There’s no end in sight.” In interviews with owners and workers at about 20 bagel shops and delis across the city, many said they were frazzled, frustrated and rushing to find cream cheese after learning about the shortage in the past few days.
 

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Picture of the Day

The inside of Beth Ahabah is one of Richmond’s best places.