Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and coolish temperatures remain today. Andrew Freiden says you can expect humidity to make its sticky return, though, and possibly bring with it some rain. Temperatures steadily increase from here straight on through to the middle of next week. Enjoy what looks to be a pretty great weekend!
 

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: 130, 15, and 5.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 13.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 1.7; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,352 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.0%, 57.5%, and 54.0% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I know we’re nearing the end of the usefulness of all these charts I have, but you should really take a look at this week’s stacked chart of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Look at that precipitous drop in new cases and that strong steady decline in new hospitalizations! There are probably lots of reasons why we’re seeing these dramatic decreases, but they all match up pretty well with the middle of April, when Virginia opened up vaccination to the general public.
 

I like this line from a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about how scientists can and should reach out to folks who are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, “To be clear, I am not shaming Thomas. I frequent Starbucks twice a day because I know that the vaccines are just as safe as my caramel latte.” I think a lot of the vaccine works over the next several months means making vaccination as regular, commonplace, and boring (but life-giving nonetheless) as your morning coffee.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 56 °F, and coolish temperatures remain today. Andrew Freiden says you can expect humidity to make its sticky return, though, and possibly bring with it some rain. Temperatures steadily increase from here straight on through to the middle of next week. Enjoy what looks to be a pretty great weekend!
 

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: 130, 15, and 5.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 13.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 1.7; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,352 people have died in the Richmond region. 46.0%, 57.5%, and 54.0% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I know we’re nearing the end of the usefulness of all these charts I have, but you should really take a look at this week’s stacked chart of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. Look at that precipitous drop in new cases and that strong steady decline in new hospitalizations! There are probably lots of reasons why we’re seeing these dramatic decreases, but they all match up pretty well with the middle of April, when Virginia opened up vaccination to the general public.
 

I like this line from a column in the Richmond Times-Dispatch about how scientists can and should reach out to folks who are hesitant about getting a COVID-19 vaccine, “To be clear, I am not shaming Thomas. I frequent Starbucks twice a day because I know that the vaccines are just as safe as my caramel latte.” I think a lot of the vaccine works over the next several months means making vaccination as regular, commonplace, and boring (but life-giving nonetheless) as your morning coffee.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and we have another beautiful day ahead of us. Expect a continued break from the humidity, highs in the mid 80s, and lots of opportunities to wander around your neighborhood. Enjoy, because tomorrow could bring a bit of rain.
 

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: 130, 15, and 5.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 13.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 1.7; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,352 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.9%, 57.4%, and 53.9% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

As we talk more and more about variants, especially the delta variant, I wanted to surface this Variants of Concern dashboard on the VDH website (which is updated weekly on Fridays). You can see a pretty deep breakdown of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths by variant type. Variants are scary, especially the way in which they’re covered in the media sometimes, but two things reassure me: 1) Getting vaccinated is your best protection against all of the variants of concern at this point, and 2) thus far, just six people have been hospitalized as a result of the delta variant across the state. That’s a small number, but, of course, still certainly one worth keeping an eye on.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and we have another beautiful day ahead of us. Expect a continued break from the humidity, highs in the mid 80s, and lots of opportunities to wander around your neighborhood. Enjoy, because tomorrow could bring a bit of rain.
 

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: 130, 15, and 5.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 13.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 1.7; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,352 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.9%, 57.4%, and 53.9% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

As we talk more and more about variants, especially the delta variant, I wanted to surface this Variants of Concern dashboard on the VDH website (which is updated weekly on Fridays). You can see a pretty deep breakdown of infections, hospitalizations, and deaths by variant type. Variants are scary, especially the way in which they’re covered in the media sometimes, but two things reassure me: 1) Getting vaccinated is your best protection against all of the variants of concern at this point, and 2) thus far, just six people have been hospitalized as a result of the delta variant across the state. That’s a small number, but, of course, still certainly one worth keeping an eye on.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 60 °F, and today’s weather forecast looks wonderful. Expect highs in the upper 70s and low humidity. It’s a great Wednesday to get outside!
 

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: 137, 22, and 5.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 18.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 2.7; Henrico: 9.6, and Chesterfield: 6.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,353 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.9%, 57.3%, and 53.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

OK, the VDH dashboard caught up with the Governor, and, as of yesterday morning, now reports that 70.0% of Virginians 18 and older have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, America as a whole has not caught up, and yesterday the president’s team announced that the U.S. will not hit his 70% goal by July 4th. Like I’ve said many times over the last couple of weeks, this particular goal is fairly arbitrary anyway, and, even now, we’re pretty dang close (65.4% of Americans have received at least one dose). We’ll get there—and we’ll get even further—but it’ll take more time and a lot of hard work.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 77 °F, and, later today we should get a reprieve to the opressive heat. You can expect highs in the 80s, but rain should move in late morning or early afternoon to cool things down. Tomorrow’s forecast looks like a real winner, so get excited.
 

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: 136, 21, and 6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 18.7 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 0.9; Henrico: 11.9, and Chesterfield: 6). Since this pandemic began, 1,352 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.8%, 57.2%, and 53.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

Despite the VDH dashboard’s stubborn refusal to tick over from 69.9% of adult Virginians with at least one dose to the full 70%, the Governor declared victory yesterday at Hope Pharmacy in the East End. From the release, “Virginia is the 16th state in the nation to meet this goal set by President Joe Biden in early May and reaches the key vaccination milestone two weeks ahead of the nationwide July 4 target. To date, over 8.8 million doses of vaccine have been administered in Virginia and more than 4.2 million individuals, or 60.3 percent of the population 18 and older, are fully vaccinated.” That’s pretty rad, and we’re seeing some good progress at the local level, too: 53.6%, 69.1%, and 65.9% of adults in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have had at least one dose. We should celebrate this local progress but also take these local number with a grain of salt. According to the dashboard, a full 1,080,323 people have not been “mapped,” which I assume means they aren’t tied to a locality. That’s 22% of all people with at least one dose! Doing some reprehensible napkin math and assuming that those one million untethered folks are distributed equally and evenly, (aka just adding 22% to the local-level percentages), we’d end up with 65.4%, 84.3%, and 80.4% of adults across our three localities with at least one dose. Now, of course, I have no reason to think that’s how the math would actually work out—in fact, the Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Sabrina Moreno reports that it may be weighted towards people living near the North Carolina border—but a million folks is a lot of people in a state with a total population of 8.5 million. Anyway, good work everyone, and good luck in the continued work!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s already 74 °F, and today you can expect highs near 100 °F with Feels Likes above and beyond that. I love being outside, but, dang, not today. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay inside if you can.
 

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: 129, 21, and 6.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 17 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 0.9; Henrico: 10.6, and Chesterfield: 5.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,349 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.8%, 57.2%, and 53.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

OK! I think, when VDH updates their COVID-19 dashboard later this morning, Virginia will have reached President Biden’s goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose of a vaccine! Right now, looking at yesterday’s numbers, the Commonwealth sits at 69.9%, and the Governor has an event scheduled at Hope Pharmacy in the East End this morning to “celebrate vaccination milestone.” That’s pretty good work, Virginia, as it looks like the country as a whole will not hit Biden’s goal by July 4th (and some states may not even hit the goal period). Of course, I immediately want to know where we go from here and what numbers I need to start putting in my spreadsheet next. I do wonder if July 4th and Biden’s “freedom from COVID” language is a sort of pandemic mission accomplished banner. Maybe I should take a hint and hang up the spreadsheet? But, for now, here is the graph of new people with at least one dose across the state and the graph of total people with at least one dose in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and today looks beautiful. Expect highs in the 80s, plenty of sunshine, and all the reason in the world to hold hands in the park. Temperatures increase over the long weekend, so get out there and enjoy it today.
 

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: 145, 27, and 10, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 17.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: -0.3; Henrico: 9.9, and Chesterfield: 8.3). Since this pandemic began, 1,345 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.4%, 56.7%, and 53.2% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Welp, we’ll have to wait until next week to see if Richmond’s miraculously negative cases sort themselves out.
 

OK! Virginia continues to creep closer and closer to President Biden’s vaccination goal—like, really, really closer. As of this morning, 69.4% of adult Virginians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. I think, fingers crossed, by Wednesday we should have this thing in the bag. Then, I wonder, what the next fairly arbitrary goal will be? 70% of adults fully vaccinated? 70% of kids? 70% of everyone before the end of the year? Maybe something with booster shots? Like I keep saying, this next phase of vaccination work will be slower and more methodical, and, as much as they’re kind of made up, these point-in-time goals do create a way to regularly measure progress (and create a thing to write about in this section of the email multiple times each week).
 

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.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and, wow that was a lot of lightning in the storm that rolled through last night. I think, however, it brought with it cooler temperatures, because we can expect highs in the mid 80s today. NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says the next couple of days look stellar.
 

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: 140, 32, and 10.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 11.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 0.7; Henrico: 2.4, and Chesterfield: 8.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,343 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.1%, 56.4%, and 52.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

Do you still need a reason to get vaccinated? How about this set of headlines: “Distorted, Bizarre Food Smells Haunt Covid Survivors,” “Many Post-Covid Patients Are Experiencing New Medical Problems, Study Finds,” or “Coronavirus infections dropping where people are vaccinated, rising where they are not.” While the least serious of these headlines, the first one terrifies me. I once lost my sense of smell for a week and it was awful—so much of eating is smell-related! Don’t lose your sense of smell or have it rewired by a coronavirus infection! Go get vaccinated today!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 64 °F, and today looks like another hot and humid day with a chance for storms later this afternoon. You can expect delightfully cooler temperatures the next couple of days, though!
 

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: 143, 30, and 10.1, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 11.7 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: -0.1; Henrico: 3.3, and Chesterfield: 8.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,340 people have died in the Richmond region. 45.1%, 56.4%, and 52.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. For what it’s worth, I have no idea what’s going on with Richmond’s case numbers. The VDH dashboard has reported a very small negative number of new cases for the past several days, and now we have a negative seven-day average of new cases. I suspect it’ll sort itself out later this week.
 

Well, we’re still a full percent short of President Biden’s goal of getting 70% of adults with at least on dose of a vaccine. I think, given the recent rates, we’ll be super close 10 days from now. Let’s check in next Thursday or Friday. Related, an interesting thing has happened with the graph of new people with at least one dose in Virginia: It has flattened out. Finally, here’s the graph of our region as a whole inching closer and closer towards (mostly) Biden’s goal.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F, and who’s excited for more of the same?? Today you can expect highs in the 80s and a chance for downpours. NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says we could catch a break this weekend, though.
 

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: 198, 31, and 7.7, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 19.4 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 3.9; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 9). Since this pandemic began, 1,331 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.7%, 55.9%, and 52.3% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. This week’s stacked chart is really something to look at—across the board you’ll see the lowest levels of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths pretty much since this pandemic began. I know a lot of folks are holding their breath until fall—when things took a turn last year—but, for now, the data is down and things are looking up!
 

Biden Goal update! With 68.5% of adults in Virginia with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and one day to go, we’re definitely going to miss my projection of hitting 70% on June 12th. Honestly, at the current rate, hitting July 4th might turn out to be a photo-finish. Either way, this is a dumb thing to be so focused on! Vaccinating the rest of these folks will take long, slow, methodical work—like over the course of this entire year. Shouting about the president’s fairly arbitrary goal won’t get us there any faster (I will continue to shout about it for reasons I don’t really understand!).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and while we’ve got some cooler temperatures today with highs in the mid 80s, I think we’ve also got a decent chance of rain throughout. NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says to watch out for downpours this afternoon and evening.
 

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: 204, 34, and 7.7, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 22.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.3; Henrico: 6, and Chesterfield: 10). Since this pandemic began, 1,330 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.6%, 55.7%, and 52.1% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Lots of folks, myself included, are nervous/keeping an eye on the rise of new COVID-19 variants (which the WHO has helpfully designated alpha, beta, gamma, and delta). Are our current vaccines effective against the variants? Can a variant “breakthrough” your vaccination? And, most importantly, if I’m vaccinated can a variant make me seriously ill or send me to the hospital? Unfortunately there’s not a ton of data out there to answer a lot of these questions, but Emily Oster has a good piece this morning running through some of them, and provides, as always, a good chunk of math to help you estimate your own risk.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 73 °F, and, guess what? More of the same! Expect hot, sticky highs in the 90s, with even hotter Feels Likes, plus a possibility for rain this evening. Cooler temperatures move in tomorrow, though!
 

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: 202, 35, and 8.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 23.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.7; Henrico: 6.4, and Chesterfield: 9.4). Since this pandemic began, 1,330 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.4%, 55.5%, and 51.9% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

Biden Goal update! As of this morning, 68.2% of adult Virginians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. So close! But gains of just 0.1% per day will push the Commonwealth’s target for hitting the 70% goal out to around June 26th. I’ve become irrationally interested in this number!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and today you can expect more of the same: Sticky, hot highs in the 90s. There’s a chance for some thunderstorms this afternoon, but it’s not a certainty. Cooler temperatures should show up on Thursday!
 

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: 185, 29, and 8.4, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 21.4 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.9; Henrico: 5.9, and Chesterfield: 8.7). Since this pandemic began, 1,330 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.3%, 55.4%, and 51.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. The recent trend of exceedingly low numbers across the board continues. Yesterday, which was a Monday and keep in mind that Mondays typically have the fewest reported everythings of the week, saw just 90 new reported cases of COVID-19 across the entire state. Incredible. While I think it’s probably a combination of things, having more than half of folks vaccinated certainly helps (55.9% of the state!). I know this is obvious, but that means every other person you meet is either already vaccinated or well on their way, which I think is really neat. There are, of course, some geographic considerations to that last sentence. Check out the map of percent of the population with at least one dose and see how vaccination rates basically track with…the interstates? Before you suggest it, that map is not just a reflection of the population map, either. Nor is it exactly a map of race. I dunno! Honestly, it’s a pretty interesting map, and I’d love to hear thoughts on why some of these localities are leading Virginia’s vaccine rollout.
 

Today’s Biden Goal check: 68.1% of adult Virginians have had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and, after this past weekend’s blazing hot temperatures, we’ve got mostly more of the same today. Expect highs in the 90s—but with Feels Likes near 100 °F. Keep your water bottle nearby and prepare yourself for more of this over the next several days.
 

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: 193, 32, and 9, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 23.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.6; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 9.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.2%, 55.2%, and 51.5% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the slow work to vaccinate the remaining four million or so Virginians continues! Check out the graph of new folks vaccinated each day, and you can see that after whatever happened with the addition of federal doses (#datareportingissues), the graph has resumed a similarly-sloped slow decent. Still though, 67.8% of adults in the Commonwealth have received at least one does of the COVID-19 vaccine, and we’re well on track to hit Biden’s 70% by the 4th goal. You can see additional slow-but-steady progress in the graph of local vaccines administered by week. This next phase of the vaccine campaign is totally different! We should find ways to celebrate the progress we’re making at this new, more methodical pace. Graphs like this don’t help, he says to himself.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 72 °F, and, after this past weekend’s blazing hot temperatures, we’ve got mostly more of the same today. Expect highs in the 90s—but with Feels Likes near 100 °F. Keep your water bottle nearby and prepare yourself for more of this over the next several days.
 

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: 193, 32, and 9, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 23.3 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.6; Henrico: 6.6, and Chesterfield: 9.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 44.2%, 55.2%, and 51.5% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. However, the slow work to vaccinate the remaining four million or so Virginians continues! Check out the graph of new folks vaccinated each day, and you can see that after whatever happened with the addition of federal doses (#datareportingissues), the graph has resumed a similarly-sloped slow decent. Still though, 67.8% of adults in the Commonwealth have received at least one does of the COVID-19 vaccine, and we’re well on track to hit Biden’s 70% by the 4th goal. You can see additional slow-but-steady progress in the graph of local vaccines administered by week. This next phase of the vaccine campaign is totally different! We should find ways to celebrate the progress we’re making at this new, more methodical pace. Graphs like this don’t help, he says to himself.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 70 °F, and it looks rainy out there, y’all. You can continue to expect a chance of rain, on and off, for most of the day. Saturday and Sunday, though, look beautiful if rather hot. This weekend, enjoy some time outside, stay hydrated, and get some rest.
 

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: 229, 31, and 9.1, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 28.7 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 7.3; Henrico: 5.9, and Chesterfield: 15.6). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 43.8%, 54.8%, and 51.1% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s this week’s stacked chart of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and you can, finally, really, totally, see a drop off in COVID-19-related deaths across the state. These are truly low numbers that we haven’t seen since last July. Now, with the power of a ton of folks being vaccinated, I’m hoping we’ll see those number fall even lower and stay there.
 

Speaking of the power of vaccines! I know that’s a lot of numbers up there to throw at you before you’ve had a sufficient amount of coffee, but I do want to point out that both Henrico and Chesterfield now have more than 50% of their population with at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Possibly related, or at least worth bringing up in that conversation, Sabrina Moreno at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports on the low vaccine uptake among Black Richmonders who, at this point, make up the largest share of positive COVID-19 cases—75% of the city’s cases from April to May. It’s complicated stuff why a person may or may not choose to get vaccinated, and I encourage you to tap that link and read through some of the reasons.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 67 °F, and you should expect highs in the mid 70s and a chance of rain throughout today. We may even see some severe weather this afternoon or evening. Keep an ear out!
 

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: 243, 41, and 15.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 32.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 4.9; Henrico: 12.3, and Chesterfield: 15.7). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 people have died in the Richmond region. 42.8%, 53.3%, and 49.8% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
 

Because I can’t not look at the number every day, 67.3% of adults in Virginia have received at least one dose of the vaccine. The New York Times can’t not look at these numbers either and has put together this fascinating table of “How long it would take each state to reach 70 percent of adults with one dose at the current vaccination pace.” Virginia: 13 days (which puts us four days past my estimate of June 12th). Alabama and Mississippi: More than a year. 40 states (plus D.C. and Puerto Rico) have not yet hit Biden’s 70% goal, and out of the ten that are projected to take the longest to get there, six are in the South and eight have Republican governors. The 12 states that have already hit the goal: California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, Rhodesia Island, New Jersey, Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Hawaii, and Vermont (just four Republican governors).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 58 °F, and you can expect temperate highs in the 80s today followed by a chance for storms this evening. Same deal for the next couple of days, too. Maybe most of the rain will miss us?
 

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: 262, 43, and 16.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 29.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 5.4; Henrico: 14.3, and Chesterfield: 10.1). Since this pandemic began, 1,328 people have died in the Richmond region. 43.5%, 54.3%, and 50.7% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Good-looking averages continue! I do want to raise a tiny yellow flag that these numbers may go up in the coming days as folks shake of the long weekend and get back to entering data into spreadsheets. Prepare yourself for that, and don’t freak out too much if it happens.
 

As things here shift out of the pandemic and into whatever the next phase of American life looks like, I think it’s important to remember that a lot of places around the world are still fighting a horrible battle with COVID-19. Here’s a short New York Times piece checking in with the places across the globe who are shutting down schools and re-entering a summer lockdown.