Charlottesville Quarantine Report

Hello and welcome to Charlottesville Community Engagement. I’m your host, Sean Tubbs, and before we get started, I wanted to remind some of you and tell some of your for the first time that this program is an offshoot of a podcast I created in March 2020 to get information out about COVID-19.

Doing the Charlottesville Quarantine Report made me want to get back to journalism, and here I am a year and a half later with the 228th installment of this show and what is the 57th installment of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. Let’s get right to it.

One year ago this week, the future was uncertain and I and many other people didn’t know what was going to happen. I created this podcast, which has now evolved into a regular one that expands on this legacy.

The first few minutes of this one wax nostalgic, but there's no time for that. There's still work to be done. A full text version of this one will be posted on the CCE site, but this began as a podcast, so people in this feed get the first shot and taking a listen.

We’re now at a point in this murky pandemic where one thing is clear - uncertainty about the future is a commonly held concern. This week, Albemarle and Charlottesville both reported one-day records as a second local surge hit due in part to the arrival of UVA students from across the country to begin in-person instruction. On this Saturday, February 20 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement Newcast and Newsletter, we hear the response from the University of Virginia as a Town Hall held Friday afternoon.

We’ll also check in with officials at UVA Health and hear a statement from the Blue Ridge Health District related to long lines this past Wednesday at the vaccination clinic at the K-Mart. The idea of this newsletter is intended to make things a little less murky as you make you decisions about your life in the days, weeks, and months to come.

It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and a day many might usually gather to celebrate on this unofficial national holiday. But the pandemic is still keeping this from being a normal time, and this installment of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newscast and newsletter is intended to catch us up on where we are eleven months since the first positive case was recorded in Virginia.

At a briefing on January 22, 2021, the executive director of the Blue Ridge Health District had a clear message for people in the greater Charlottesville area.

“There is a vaccination shortage and I just need everyone to understand that,” said Dr. Denise Bonds.

Bonds is one of several people featured in this January 24, 2021 edition of the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter and newscast which doubles as an episode of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. We’ll also hear from Dr. Costi Sifri from the University of Virginia and Dr. Danny Avula, Richmond’s health director who is also serving as the state’s vaccine coordinator.

“Right now in Virginia we’re getting about 105,000 new doses per week and clearly there is much more demand than that,” Avula said. “Why is that and how do we address it?”

The pandemic has been altering our lives for ten months now, and this weekend marks the ten month anniversary of the first episode of what would be the creation of Charlottesville Community Engagement. This 130th installment of Charlottesville Community Engagement doubles as the 52nd installment of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. Please visit the CCE site for a transcript.

In today’s show:

* On Monday, the University of Virginia Health System will begin helping the Blue Ridge Health District administer vaccines

* Virginia’s vaccine coordinator provides update on getting to 50,000 doses a day

* D.C. Deputy Mayor Wayne Turnage addresses Black reluctance to vaccinations

This program began in March as a way to educate myself and the public about the COVID-19 pandemic. Over that time, I've created the Charlottesville Community Engagement newsletter to provide daily updates on COVID as well as other news information. As such, this podcast has not been updated as much.

On this Christmas eve, the newsletter doubles up as an installment of this program. If you want to read the script, please visit the other website and sign up!

As we approach another pandemic holiday and beyond, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam offers cautious hope for the not-too-distant future.

"A vaccine is in sight and while that take time to distribute and take effect, I hope that just a few months from now we may be past the worst of this.

With Thanksgiving a week away, a quarter million Americans have died of COVID-19. The nations top expert on pandemics warns of hard times to come.

"We are in the process of another resurgence as we enter into the much colder months of the late fall and early winter as people go indoors much more than outdoors and they're gathering with friends and with family."

Dr. Fauci addressed the University of Virginia this week, and Northam held another press conference. In this 50th episode of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report, excerpts of both events, as well as a local update from the Blue Ridge Health District.

The national election has brought the potential for a national strategy to fight COVID-19 with the announcement by President-elect Joe Biden. But there are more than two months into inauguration and there is a looming crisis according to Virginia Governor Ralph Northam. This is the 49th episode of the Charlottesville Quarantine Report. On today's show, excerpts from Governor Northam's November 10 press conference, as well as parts of President-elect Biden's task force announcement.

This episode comes at a time when the seasons are changing, and outdoor gatherings will become less likely. Eight months into the pandemic, people are experiencing fatigue. That increases the risk of community spread. In this installment of the show, Governor Ralph Northam raises the alarm on rising caseloads in Southwest Virginia. Officials with the soon-to-be-named Blue Ridge Health District brief Albemarle, Charlottesville and University of Virginia officials on the COVID response to date. The Jefferson-Madison Regional Library is set to open up Scottsville and Crozet libraries on a very limited basis.