Good morning, RVA! It’s 53 °F, and today looks lovely—in fact, NBC12’s Andrew Freiden say today’s your best day of the week weatherwise. Expect highs in the 80s, low humidity, and not a bit of rain. Looks like severe weather could be in the forecast later this week, though, so organize your out-of-doors calendar accordingly.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 347, 45, and 17.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 44.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.6; Henrico: 18, and Chesterfield: 20). Since this pandemic began, 1,329 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.
 

Over in vaccine world, we are so, so close to reaching President Biden’s goal of 70% of adults with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by July 4th. Right now, according to the VDH dashboard, 67.0% of Virginians 18 and and older have had their first jab. I’d said to mark your calendars for June 12th, but we may cross the 70% threshold even sooner. As per always, data reporting issues continue to ruin my pretty little graphs and have made unclear, at least to me, the picture of how many new people are getting vaccinated each day in the Commonwealth. That number’s not falling off a cliff though, so that’s something. Locally—defined as Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield—I don’t think we’ll hit Biden’s goal by the 4th, but we’ll be close. Check out our creeping progress towards (mostly) that goal on this chart. I can’t find daily, 18+ vaccination data for localities on VDH’s dashboard, so this is what I’ve got!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and we’ve got a cold front moving through this afternoon. Expect a chance of rain, maybe some thunderstorms, and then chilly temperatures—like in the 50s—until Monday. You probably need to find socks again.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 360, 37, and 12.3, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 32.9 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 4.9; Henrico: 14.3, and Chesterfield: 15.7). Since this pandemic began, 1,315 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. Here’s this week’s stacked chart of cases, hospitalizations, and deaths. After the steep slide down from this winter’s horrible coronapeak, the last couple weeks of the statewide hospitalizations graph has to be one of the most hopeful charts I’ve seen in a while. Clearly fewer and fewer people are ending up in the hospital due to COVID-19, which is the whole point.
 

Well, without much fanfare, all of the Governor’s COVID-19 distancing and capacity restrictions lifted overnight. Here’s a tweet from the Governor which says, “All remaining COVID-19 mitigation measures related to distancing and capacity are lifted.” Here’s the newish Executive Order 79, which is mostly about masks, but does contain a line near the bottom about terminating Executive Order 72. If you were doing any of the the things in Executive Order 72—things like keeping tables six feet apart or limiting number of people at an indoor show—I guess you can just stop now? Seems like a big deal and like something folks will have lots of questions about moving forward. I…anticipate more from the Governor at some point. According to my inbox, at 10:00 AM today, the Governor will “join President Joe Biden to celebrate summer as Virginia lifts all COVID-19 distancing and capacity restrictions.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today looks hot—but not as hot as yesterday. Expect highs near 90 °F, and, luckily, NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says to expect less humidity soaking through your shirts.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 394, 40, and 13.6, 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, 1,324 people have died in the Richmond region. 42.6%, 53.1%, and 49.6% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. For whatever reason, Chesterfield actually reported -43 new cases yesterday, so that accounts for the significant drop in its seven-day average of new cases. Data Reporting: There’s always something.
 

Now that Virginia is so dang close to reaching President Biden’s goal of 70% of adults with at least one does by July 4th, I cannot stop watching the numbers slowwwwwly tick upwards. Two days ago 65.7% of Virginia’s adults had one dose, today 66.2%. Forgetting for a second that fewer people are making the decision to get vaccinated each day and pretending that we’ll just continue along at the same rate we’re seeing right now, we should hit Biden’s goal on June 12th. Mark your calendars (which is a thing I actually just did)!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 68 °F, and today you can expect too-hot highs in the 90s for much of the day. Later this evening we could see some severe thunderstorms roll through, but it won’t do much to cool things off. Temperatures return to springlike this weekend, so, until then, accept the sweat and stay hydrated!
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports the seven-day average of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths as: 418, 39, and 13.6, respectively. VDH reports a seven-day average of 44.6 new cases in and around Richmond (Richmond: 6.6; Henrico: 18.0, and Chesterfield: 20.0). Since this pandemic began, 1,322 people have died in the Richmond region. 42.5%, 52.9%, and 49.4% of the population in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. I rewrote the top of this email! What do you think? I may keep tweaking it over the next couple of weeks—thrilling stuff!
 

Yesterday, Moderna announced that it plans to submit some new data to the FDA and will seek Emergency Use Authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine for kids ages 12 through 17 in early June. The Washington Post has more details. This would be big news, even though we have loads of Pfizer laying around for this age group; the Pfizer vaccine is just so challenging to work with. Expanded authorization of Moderna would make things easier for folks on the ground who are still out there planning vaccination events and jabbing arms.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 61 °F, and highs today will stick around in the 80s. Tomorrow though, tomorrow you should expect unseasonably hot temperatures and all kinds of reasons to stay inside. If you want to get out and around, today’s your day!
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 76 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 10 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 12 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 4, Henrico: 7, and Richmond: 1). Since this pandemic began, 1,320 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 378. Whoa! Look at these new numbers! Fewer than 100 new reported cases across the Commonwealth and single digit case counts in all three local jurisdictions. The last time my spreadsheet says that happened was over a year ago, on March 27th, just three days after I started tracking local numbers. What great news—let’s hope it continues!
 

Over in vaccine world, I can’t remember if I mentioned it or not, but the VDH vaccine dashboard now reports that over 50% of Virginians have received at least one dose of the vaccine (53.2%). And, maybe even more exciting if you’re into tracking progress towards quasi-arbitrary goals, 65.7% of adults have had at least one dose. With 40 days remaining, I think we’ll hit Biden’s 70% goal with time to spare. That’s more great news that I hope continues!
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 71 °F already, and temperatures today should heat up just a little more. At some point, a cold(er) front will move through and maybe even bring some rain with it!
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 236 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 9 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 29 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 7, Henrico: 16, and Richmond: 6). Since this pandemic began, 1,320 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 406. The NYT reports that, countrywide, new COVID-19 cases have dropped to levels not seen since last summer.
 

Over in vaccine world, first, check out the graph of new people in Virginia with at least one dose and see how a change in VDH’s reporting has made this graph…less satisfying to look at. A couple days back, VDH started including doses administered by the federal government into this dataset (specifically the Bureau of Prisons, Department of Defense, Indian Health Service, and Veterans Administration). This resulted in a massive, one-time spike and an unknown daily increase in folks with at least one dose. I’m bummed because now I can’t tell if the increase in folks getting their first dose is a result of this new reporting change or because a bunch of kids 12–15 decided to get vaccinated. Maybe that latter thing is better represented in this graph of total doses administered locally, in Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield. We’ve seen a pretty sizable increase in total jabs, and, while I have no way of knowing, doesn’t seem like it’s 100% explainable by adding in federal doses. Finally, I updated this graph to reflect progress towards 70% of local folks vaccinated instead of 75% (I also made it a bit easier on the eyes).
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and you can expect highs in the mid 80s today. Looks like a pretty great start to a warm—or maybe just plain hot—weekend.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 591 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 20 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 73 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 40, Henrico: 22, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 1,316 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 456. Here’s this week’s stacked graph of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across the state. I’m not really sure what’s going on with the deaths graph, which has stalled out on a plateau, but hospitalizations show a definite decrease over the past two weeks. As we all know, and this is just one of the weird things we all just know now, but deaths due to COVID-19 generally lag behind hospitalizations by a couple weeks. We’re seeing the same drop in cases reflected locally, too. In fact, Richmond had a single-digit case count seven times over the last three weeks. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but there will be a time when, combined, our entire region reports daily single-digit case counts with zero deaths in a week (this week, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield reported 12 deaths).
 

I think we all expected this and it definitely sounds like a sign of things to come for college students across the commonwealth, but UVA announced that “all students who live, learn, or work in person at the University during the next academic year must be fully vaccinated before returning to [campus], starting July 1.” I haven’t seen similar statements from VCU or UR, but I certainly expect them soon.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 51 °F, and you can expect highs in the mid 80s today. Looks like a pretty great start to a warm—or maybe just plain hot—weekend.
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 591 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 20 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 73 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 40, Henrico: 22, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 1,316 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 456. Here’s this week’s stacked graph of new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths across the state. I’m not really sure what’s going on with the deaths graph, which has stalled out on a plateau, but hospitalizations show a definite decrease over the past two weeks. As we all know, and this is just one of the weird things we all just know now, but deaths due to COVID-19 generally lag behind hospitalizations by a couple weeks. We’re seeing the same drop in cases reflected locally, too. In fact, Richmond had a single-digit case count seven times over the last three weeks. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but there will be a time when, combined, our entire region reports daily single-digit case counts with zero deaths in a week (this week, Richmond, Henrico, and Chesterfield reported 12 deaths).
 

I think we all expected this and it definitely sounds like a sign of things to come for college students across the commonwealth, but UVA announced that “all students who live, learn, or work in person at the University during the next academic year must be fully vaccinated before returning to [campus], starting July 1.” I haven’t seen similar statements from VCU or UR, but I certainly expect them soon.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 54 °F, and, whoa, today you can expect highs around 90 °F. That sounds a lot like summer! Stay cool, and stay hydrated.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 491 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 6 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 58 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 26, Henrico: 27, and Richmond: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,311 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 454. How have y’all—at least those of you who are fully vaccinated—been handling the new mask guidance? I’ve been to a couple of place since the Governor brought Virginia’s mask policy inline with the CDC, and I’ve continued to wear a mask whenever I go indoors. Thus far I’ve not been met with looks or confronted about how it’s technically no longer necessary—but I am a white guy, which means my experience in the world is way different than a lot of folks. Honestly, I feel pretty comfortable and safe settling into a summer of outdoor hangs and quick, masked-up errands inside (I do realize this has been a lot of folks' reality for the past year). Part of this new-to-me freedom only comes because my son is 12-years-old and has already had his first shot. Parents of younger kids don’t necessarily have the same feeling of freedom and are caught in a guidance no-man’s land, which is frustrating. Emily Oster addresses it in her newsletter today, saying “CDC: Could you please, please provide some more guidance for those of us with kids under 12, who cannot be vaccinated? And especially for those with kids under 2?” She also points to this piece in the New York Times by David Leonhardt who asks similar questions.
 

Over in vaccine world, I missed an important milestone: Over 50% of all Virginians have receive at least one dose of a COIVD-19 vaccine! That’s huge! Perhaps even huger, 64.3% of adults have had at least one dose—which is already pretty dang close to Biden’s goal of having 70% of adults with at least one dose by July 4th. Here’s a look locally at percentage of total population with at least one dose: Richmond, 41.2%; Henrico, 50.8%; and Chesterfield, 47.7%.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 50 °F, and today looks great. Expect highs in the mid 80s and sunshine. Make sure you remember to water your plants, OK?
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 378 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 13 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 55 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 33, Henrico: 19, and Richmond: 3). Since this pandemic began, 1,309 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 464. As I mentioned yesterday, you should continue to take these numbers with a grain of salt as things get back on track after a weekend of server maintenance and the ol' Data Reporting Issues. One thing I do wish I’d started tracking last week—and will add a column for somewhere in my spreadsheet—is the number of 10–19 year olds with at least one dose (currently 184,778). That’s a weird age range to bucket, given the eligibility requirements of the various vaccines, but you take what the dashboard gives, ya know? Anyway, vaccine uptake in children is really fascinating to me, and I’m interested to see how quickly (or slowly) it grows.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 47 °F, and today looks lovely. Expect highs around 80 and some sunshine. NBC12’s Andrew Freiden says we need rain, which some of my plants would agree with, but, dang, it’s just so pleasant out.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 272 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 11 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 39 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 15, Henrico: 12, and Richmond: 11). Since this pandemic began, 1,309 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 496. OK, OK, grain of salt with these numbers. While, the VDH dashboard is officially back online, I am skeptical of any and all numbers reported by said dashboard for the next couple of days. I imagine it’s hard for staff to enter in new data during extended periods of server maintenance.
 

Now that the coronanumbers are flowing agin, I’ve got this week’s vaccine graphs for you to flip through. First, the number of new people each day in Virginia with at least one dose continues to decrease. I don’t think this graph yet reflects the change in eligibility that allowed kids 12–15 to get their first Pfizer doses, so stay tuned for at least a tiny bump. I feel like, at some point, this graph should start to flatten out in a long-tail way, right? Second, here’s the graph showing the number of doses administered in our region by week, and you can see that it’s a pretty decent reflection of the previous graph. Finally, here’s our region’s progress towards my own fairly arbitrary goal of 75% of total people with at least one dose. I think sometime this week I’ll update this graph to reflect President Biden’s goal of having 70% of adults with at least one dose by July 4th.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 48 °F, and cloudy. You can expect pleasant temperatures in the mid 70s for most of the day, despite the lack of extreme sunshine.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports…something. VDH had some server maintenance done over the weekend, which meant their data dashboards went 404 for the past couple of days. They’re sort of up now, showing screenshots for most of the dashboard pages, but, like, you can’t scroll down on any of them and that makes finding “Richmond’ in an alphabetically sorted list a challenge. I’m missing data in my spreadsheet since Thursday, so expect numbers and chartsandgraphs to be weird for a while.
 

This past Friday afternoon, Governor Northam “lifted Virginia’s universal indoor mask mandate to align with new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” He recorded a short video of the announcement, too, if you’d rather hear his soft Eastern Shore drawl than read a press release this morning. The gist is the same as what we went over last week: If you’re fully vaccinated you can do whatever, whenever with a handful of exceptions (transit, health care facilities, and a few other spots). Additionally, businesses can still choose to require masks, so pay attention before you saunter into a place maskless. The Governor also announced that he’ll “ease all distancing and capacity restrictions on Friday, May 28th.” That’s two weeks earlier than planned and right before Memorial Day weekend—an, I’m sure, not unrelated fact. Until the 28th, though, we’re stuck in this limboland of mixed messaging around who can do what and for what reasons. Can I pack a big room full of maximally vaccinated people? I think the Governor’s restrictions prevent it, but the guidance says it’d be fine. Confusing. Regardless of how you feel about the sudden lurch in masking guidance, we’ll have a lot more clarity at the end of this month. I like how President Biden put it: “The rule is now simple: Get vaccinated or wear a mask until you do.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 41 °F, but today’s forecast looks incredible. Expect highs in the mid 70s from this morning straight through until this evening. Saturday looks equally incredibly, but we might see some rain move in on Sunday. Get your rides, runs, rolls, or walks in tomorrow!
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 579 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 27 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 62 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 30, Henrico: 17, and Richmond: 15). Since this pandemic began, 1,302 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 619. Alright, dang, we have a lot of coronanews to get through this morning—and none of it is directly related to vaccines! First, here are this week’s stacked graph of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, plus the combined graph of the regional seven-day average of new reported cases. Both graphs, in all ways, show big, good drops across the board. I’m sure these graphs, or ones just like them, are why the governor will loosen a bunch of restrictions on gatherings beginning tomorrow, May 15th. Did you want to hang out with 1,000 people in a 2,000-capacity room? Tomorrow you can!
 

And maybe soon, depending on your vaccination status, you can even hang out with those 1,000 people in a room while not wearing a mask. Yesterday, the CDC announced a major change in their mask-wearing guidance for folks who have been fully vaccinated: “You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.” There are a few caveats—like while traveling, riding transit, or in a healthcare setting—but, basically, if you’re fulling vaccinated CDC says you can go maskless wherever, whenever. If we’re getting pedantic about it, it does sound like the Governor’s current mask-related Executive Order supersedes this guidance, meaning you are still requried to mask-up while indoors in Virginia. But I’m sure the Gov’s legislative brains are quickly throwing together a new update to that EO given this tweet from him last night: “Virginia will continue to follow CDC guidelines as we have done throughout this pandemic. We are reviewing the new mask and distancing recommendations and will update our guidance accordingly.” I have a lot of questions! What does the lack of distance requirements mean for schools—or really any event with an indoor capacity cap? What about people who can’t get vaccinated—which until yesterday included every American under the age of 16? How will “fully vaccinated” be verified or enforced? Check out this ominous quote about the Governor of Oregon in the New York Times: “Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon emphasized that the state would not be operating on an honor system. She said that the health department would soon provide fresh guidance for businesses, employers and others ‘to allow the option of lifting mask and physical distancing requirements after verifying vaccination status.’” At it’s core, I think “the vaccines are so good that if you’re fully vaccinated you can live your life” is true, backed-by-science, and strong messaging. I still have lots of questions around the edges, though. If you’ve been waiting, now is as good of a time as any to visit vax.rchd.com or vaccines.gov and schedule an appointment to get vaccinated.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and chilly out. But, as promised, warmer weather returns this afternoon with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. I’m excited because we could have some seriously A+ porch-sitting weather later in the evening.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 561 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 69 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 26, and Richmond: 8). Since this pandemic began, 1,296 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 658. The last time we had a seven-day average of new reported cases under 700 was July 11th!
 

Two big pieces of vaccine news this morning! The first, after all of the necessary governing bodies gave their OKs yesterday (FDA —> ACIP —> CDC —> VDH), kids ages 12–15 are now eligible to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The efficacy of this vaccine seen in these youth trials was 100%, which is a lot of percents. Parents and caregivers have three main ways to find a Pfizer jab for their tween or teen. First, check out vaccines.gov (née vaccinefinder.org) to find a list of pharmacies near you that offer the Pfizer vaccine. Be aware that just because a pharmacy has Pfizer in stock, doesn’t necessarily mean they have appointments available—this is less of a concern now given the amount of vaccine floating around, though. Second, if you have one, you can call your pediatrician to see if they’re offering the vaccine to existing kid patients. Third, you can attend any of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts’ Pfizer events. I think this age group of kids was in the unique position—and I’m biased because I have one—of being old enough to really understand the impact of COVID-19 and understand what it meant to be denied the opportunity to get vaccinated. I’m excited for them, even if the one I’m related to refuses to express any emotions about it other than a single grumpy shrug.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 42 °F, and chilly out. But, as promised, warmer weather returns this afternoon with sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. I’m excited because we could have some seriously A+ porch-sitting weather later in the evening.
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 561 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 15 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 69 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 35, Henrico: 26, and Richmond: 8). Since this pandemic began, 1,296 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 658. The last time we had a seven-day average of new reported cases under 700 was July 11th!
 

Two big pieces of vaccine news this morning! The first, after all of the necessary governing bodies gave their OKs yesterday (FDA —> ACIP —> CDC —> VDH), kids ages 12–15 are now eligible to get the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. The efficacy of this vaccine seen in these youth trials was 100%, which is a lot of percents. Parents and caregivers have three main ways to find a Pfizer jab for their tween or teen. First, check out vaccines.gov (née vaccinefinder.org) to find a list of pharmacies near you that offer the Pfizer vaccine. Be aware that just because a pharmacy has Pfizer in stock, doesn’t necessarily mean they have appointments available—this is less of a concern now given the amount of vaccine floating around, though. Second, if you have one, you can call your pediatrician to see if they’re offering the vaccine to existing kid patients. Third, you can attend any of the Richmond and Henrico Health Districts’ Pfizer events. I think this age group of kids was in the unique position—and I’m biased because I have one—of being old enough to really understand the impact of COVID-19 and understand what it meant to be denied the opportunity to get vaccinated. I’m excited for them, even if the one I’m related to refuses to express any emotions about it other than a single grumpy shrug.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 52 °F, and today’s highs will float around in the 60s. The sun will poke it’s head out of the clouds at some point this morning, and the next couple of days look like they’ll bring warmer weather.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 600 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 67 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 36, Henrico: 23, and Richmond: 8). Since this pandemic began, 1,295 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 699.
 

Over in vaccine world, I’ve got three things to share. First, remember that today the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices will meet and most likely vote on authorizing the Pfizer vaccine for kids 12–15 years old. I’d bet VDH will move quickly following ACIP’s vote, so get ready parents, caregivers, teens, and tweens. Second, the New York Times asked a bunch of epidemiologists what they’re doing out in the world now that they’re fully vaccinated. Hiking with friends? Totally. Attending a wedding or a funeral? Not so much. Keep in mind that even though they have big science brains, epidemiologists are (mostly) people, too, and will have some of the same issues with reemerging into the world after a year of hibernation as the rest of us. Finally, also in the New York Times, a look at this “third group” of folks—people who aren’t necessarily vaccine hesitant, don’t have any of the classic barriers to access, but still haven’t gotten an appointment yet…because. That sounds snarky, but it’s not. People are busy living life and finding time to make it out to a pharmacy or one of the region’s vaccination sites is a lot of work for some folks. This quote sums it up: “I know you’re trying to find out the reason people aren’t doing it…I’m going to tell you. People are trying to take care of their household. You don’t have much time in the day.”
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and after this morning’s clouds clear, today looks pretty great. Expect highs in the 70s, some sunshine, and a chance to spend some time outside in a garden.
 

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As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 336 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 7 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 36 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 16, Henrico: 15, and Richmond: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,295 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 723. I say don’t get too distracted by today’s extremely low number of new reported cases (just 14 new reported hospitalizations and 7 new reported deaths, too). Keep your eyes on those seven day averages, which, thankfully, also continue to decrease.
 

Last night, the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in kids 12–15. Amazing! The next step here is for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to give Pfizer For Kids the go ahead, and then pharmacies, pediatricians, and health departments across the country can start vaccinating tweens and teens. ACIP has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, which you can watch live if you really want! I’d expect a similar announcement from the FDA about Moderna, too, in the coming weeks. I also wanted to mention two round numbers that our stupid human brains, for some reason, are designed to care about: over 4 million Virginians have received at least one dose of the vaccine and over 3 million Virginians are fully vaccinated.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 45 °F, and after this morning’s clouds clear, today looks pretty great. Expect highs in the 70s, some sunshine, and a chance to spend some time outside in a garden.
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 336 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 7 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 36 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 16, Henrico: 15, and Richmond: 5). Since this pandemic began, 1,295 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 723. I say don’t get too distracted by today’s extremely low number of new reported cases (just 14 new reported hospitalizations and 7 new reported deaths, too). Keep your eyes on those seven day averages, which, thankfully, also continue to decrease.
 

Last night, the FDA authorized the Pfizer vaccine for emergency use in kids 12–15. Amazing! The next step here is for the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to give Pfizer For Kids the go ahead, and then pharmacies, pediatricians, and health departments across the country can start vaccinating tweens and teens. ACIP has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday, which you can watch live if you really want! I’d expect a similar announcement from the FDA about Moderna, too, in the coming weeks. I also wanted to mention two round numbers that our stupid human brains, for some reason, are designed to care about: over 4 million Virginians have received at least one dose of the vaccine and over 3 million Virginians are fully vaccinated.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 65 °F, and it looks like you should expect some rain at some point today—probably this morning, maybe this evening. Temperatures should stay right about where they are for most of the day.
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 539 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 10 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 96 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 52, Henrico: 28, and Richmond: 16). Since this pandemic began, 1,295 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 762. Precipitous! The number of new reported cases continues to drop, and, over the weekend, the seven-day average of new hospitalizations fell off the around-60-per-day plateau. While certainly not the case across the entire world, these numbers and trends are encouraging. Almost 50% of all Virginians have at least one dose of the vaccine, and we haven’t even gotten to people under the age of 16 yet!
 

Over in vaccine world, I’m starting to put together a nice little collection of vaccine-related graphs. First, the chart of new people with at least one dose in Virginia continues to show a nearly linear day-to-day decline. It’s not awesome, but it is fascinating. Second, the region administered fewer doses last week than it has in months. Again, not awesome, but I think to be expected. Like I said last week, the shift away from mass vaccination sites to clever, targeted vaccination efforts will come with a slower vaccination rate. That means more “work” per vaccine given, but it’s still good and important work. Third, here’s the graph our our steady march to “regional herd immunity” which is not really a thing, but tracking our progress to having 70% of the region with at least one dose is still useful I think. Remember: If you haven’t gotten your shot yet, you can head over to George Wythe High School on Wednesdays and get your one-and-done Johnson & Johnson vaccine with absolutely zero appointment or forethought required.
 

Good morning, RVA! It’s 44 °F, and you can expect slightly cooler temperatures today. At some point, it’ll probably rain, but the weekend weather looks thoroughly rad. I expect to spend a good chunk of my time riding bikes around the region.
 

Water cooler

As of this morning, the Virginia Department of Health reports 856 new positive cases of the coronavirus in the Commonwealth and 17 new deaths as a result of the virus. VDH reports 80 new cases in and around Richmond (Chesterfield: 38, Henrico: 21, and Richmond: 21). Since this pandemic began, 1,293 people have died in the Richmond region. The seven-day average of new reported cases across the state sits at 865. This week’s stacked chart of new reported cases, hospitalizations, and deaths really illustrates the—and this is the only word I can think of so I keep using it—precipitous drop off of new cases. It’s incredible, and we saw almost the same exact drop off last year, just in June not May. I’d love some analysis on this (someone should plot the new reported cases graph against temperature)! As for the rest of the charts, we know from the last 12 months that hospitalizations usually lag a couple weeks behind cases, so maybe we’ll start to see those number dip from their weekslong stay on atop the around-60-per-day plateau. Finally, here’s this week’s local graph of new reported cases, which, thankfully, matches the statewide trends.
 

Sabrina Moreno at the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that yesterday Governor Northam announced he “hopes to lift emergency restrictions on public gatherings and social distancing by June 15th.” Importantly, this does not include guidelines around wearing masks! The Governor also “warned that progress in ending public restrictions and, potentially, the state of emergency depends on adult Virginians getting vaccinations to help achieve President Joe Biden’s new goal of having 70% of the population vaccinated by July 4 to achieve herd immunity against the disease.” Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think this kind of governmental finger-wagging does anything to motivate folks on the fence about getting vaccinated. In fact, most of those people are probably out living their (terrifying) carefree, maskless, indoor-gathering lives regardless of the current restrictions. I keep thinking about these three buckets of unvaccinated people: those with real and legitimate reasons to be hesitant toward vaccines, those with barriers preventing them from accessing the vaccine, and those who are just kind of living life and—maybe because they’re young and healthy—haven’t really made the effort to go find a vaccination appointment. I don’t have a sense for how big each of these buckets are, but making it dead simple to get vaccinated addresses at least two of those groups and should be the focus of the next phase of our vaccination campaign. It’ll be way slower than queueing up thousands of people at the Raceway each and every day, but I think that’s OK. You can watch a recording of the Governor’s announcements over on VPM’s YouTube.