Governor Northam provides more information on the vaccination timeline in Virginia – Virginia Scope
While speaking on NPR with reporter Sarah Mccammon, Northam shed some light on the timeline of when he expects Virginians to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Northam said that they will be receiving about 70,000 doses to start. “That’s why we will be going to those that are most susceptible – our health care workers and also those individuals that work and live in our long-term care facilities.”
The Governor then went more in-depth on what the plan is to distribute the vaccine to the rest of the residents in Virginia. “Then we’ll go into phase two, which will be a lot of frontline workers – for example, teachers, food preparers, those types of things,” said Northam. “And then the phase three will be the general population and hopefully by, you know, early to mid-summer have everybody in Virginia vaccinated.”
‘Cocktails or schools’: Chesterfield School Board says high COVID community transmission led to systemwide closure – Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Jessica Nocera
Chesterfield students, besides select K-12 special education pupils, will not be allowed back into their respective classrooms until at least Jan. 29, the end of the first semester of 2021. The school system reversed course on its reopening plan Wednesday as coronavirus cases continue to rise in the county.
After welcoming back nearly 34,000 students in sixth through 12th grades on Nov. 9 — a controversial decision made by the school system’s health committee — the district recorded 89 new COVID-19 cases among staff and students, said Nick Oyler, coordinator of student health services, during Monday’s specially scheduled School Board work session.
As solar farms multiply across Virginia, officials reckon with land use challenges – Virginia Mercury
by Sarah Vogelsong
Just above the North Carolina border, in the heart of Southside Virginia, Halifax’s sunshine and abundant lands yielded some of the country’s largest crops of brightleaf tobacco. Mild and fragrant, the yellow-leaved variety sometimes known as “golden tobacco” sparked awe among visitors to the county’s auction warehouses and brought wealth pouring into the county. It was, the local historical society would later recall, the golden age of Halifax.
Today, the landscape is far different. The population has shrunk and is aging. South Boston, once an independent city that until the Great Depression was the second-biggest brightleaf market in the country, reverted to a town in 1995 after ongoing fiscal struggles. Tobacco is a shadow of its former glory.
The redistricting process is advancing in Virginia – Virginia Scope
A panel of retired circuit court judges that were selected to oversee the process this year has already been selected by party leaders from a list given to them by the Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court. That panel already met in late-November and finalized the steps for the application process for the eight citizens that will be on the commission.
In addition to a questionnaire asking for specifics on the application, the judges added a requirement of three letters of recommendation and they are also requiring applicants to list the reason for leaving a job in the past.
Virginia tests plan to distribute COVID-19 vaccine, but taking it won’t be mandatory – Richmond Times-Dispatch
by Michael Martz
With the initial shipments of a new vaccine against COVID-19 potentially weeks away, Virginia is testing its plan for distributing the initially limited supply of the vaccine to the people who need it most — front-line medical workers and the employees and residents of nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.
State Epidemiologist Lilian Peake told legislators on Monday that the Virginia Department of Health was conducting an “end-to-end test” that day of its initial plan for distributing the first vaccine likely to be federally approved. It ran the test in tandem with Pfizer and BioNTech, the team that produced the vaccine, and the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, which will have the last word on priorities for its use.
As COVID-19 cases climb, first-graders set to return to Prince William County classrooms Tuesday – Inside Nova
They will join kindergartners and pre-kindergartners who returned Nov. 10, despite an ongoing spike in COVID-19 cases. As of Monday morning, the school division’s COVID-19 dashboard showed 177 positive coronavirus cases among staff and/or students at county schools. Last month there were 84, and in September there were 50. There were 69 new cases the week of Nov. 15-21 alone, the dashboard shows.
Monday’s Centers for Disease Control metrics for Prince William County schools showed the division in the highest risk category for total number of new cases in a 14-day period at 507.0 and the highest risk category for percentage of COVID-19 tests that are positive, at 10.8 percent.
Commentary: The 2021 governor’s race presents an opportunity for Virginia to join the Good Ol’ Girls Club – Virginia Mercury
By Bob Lewis
We’re about to see how serious Virginia is when it comes to advancing women in the highest elective offices in the commonwealth, and that’s particularly true for Democrats. After the briefest respite, Virginia politics revs back up and enters the national spotlight when we elect our 74th governor next year.
Not one of the first 73 — and we’ve been doing this since Patrick Henry in 1776 — has been a woman. It’s one of the longest-running perpetual fraternities in American politics. With female candidates — declared, undeclared and still mulling it over — queueing up for both parties’ nomination sweepstakes, 2021 could be the year when that changes.
Rising COVID-19 cases among local trash crews prompts plea for residents’ patience – Prince William Times
by Jill Palermo
A “dramatic increase” in COVID-19 cases among trash and recycling crews has prompted the City of Manassas to ask residents to have patience with their weekly service and allow more time for pickups.
Manassas officials made the announcement via Facebook Monday morning. The main challenge is that more trash workers are testing positive for COVID-19 and are having to recover or quarantine. For customers, that means smaller crews and longer pickup windows, Patty Prince, City of Manassas spokeswoman, said Monday morning.
Virginia Tech backup quarterback Quincy Patterson enters the transfer portal – Roanoke Times
by Mike Niziolek
BLACKSBURG — Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente announced that backup quarterback Quincy Patterson has entered the transfer portal. The only other player to enter the transfer portal during the off week was receiver Darryle Simmons.
Fuente attributed the timing of Patterson’s decision — Tech has two games left to go in the regular season — to a hand injury he suffered against Pittsburgh. Patterson couldn’t grip a football last week and likely wouldn’t have been available to play this week against Clemson.