Vaccine scene
Charlottesville Fire Department Captain Lance Blakey was the first to receive a coronavirus vaccine at the Blue Ridge Health District’s new vaccination facility in the Kmart parking lot last week. The city continues to move through phase 1A of vaccinations, which includes doctors, nurses, EMTs, pharmacists, social workers, and other frontline health care personnel. As of Tuesday morning, 9.2 million doses of the vaccine had been distributed in the U.S. In Virginia, 191,000 people have received their first shot, and 15,000 of those people have also gotten a second shot, which is administered around a month after the first. Virginia ranks 36th out of 50 states in the percent of the population that has been vaccinated, according to The New York Times. So far, 3,893 Albemarle County residents have been vaccinated, and 3,643 Charlottesville City residents have been vaccinated.
Off to a no-Good start
That was fast: Bob Good has been in congress for less than two weeks, and he’s already facing calls to resign. The Republican was one of the members of the House of Representatives who voted last week to formally contest the results of the 2020 presidential election in six states. That vote came on the heels of Wednesday’s deadly attack on the Capitol—later, when Democrats began the process of impeaching President Trump for his role in the insurrection, Good released a statement calling the effort “destabilizing and offensive.”
Indivisible Charlottesville held a rally outside the county office building on Friday, calling for Good to step down after his vote to contest the election. And last week, the editorial board at the Danville Register & Bee penned an op-ed to the same effect. “We hope you have taken time to watch the video of how Wednesday unfolded,” the board writes. “We hope guilt has seared a hole in your soul.”
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Quote of the week
“All of the people surprised by the events of yesterday live
outside of Charlottesville. I promise you, we knew.“
—Activist Don Gathers in a tweet about the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
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In brief
Home schooling
The Charlottesville school board voted last week to postpone in-person classes until at least March 8. Earlier in the winter, the district had hoped to return to in-person learning as early as January 19, but moved the start date back as local COVID cases continue to rise. Albemarle’s school board will meet this week to make a decision on how to handle the next few weeks.
Chased out?
Virginia state Senator and 2021 gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase was among the seditionists on the scene at the Capitol attack last week. Soon after, the Virginia Senate’s Democratic Caucus called on Chase to resign, saying she “galvanized domestic terrorists.” Many Republicans are sick of Chase, too—former Republican representative Barbara Comstock was among a handful who called on the Virginia General Assembly to expel the lawless lawmaker.
Vaccines for inmates
Virginia announced last week that people in state prisons and local jails would be included in Phase 1B of COVID vaccinations. The decision was praised by justice reform advocates who have watched with horror as correctional facilities around the nation have become COVID hot spots. Phase 1b also includes people aged 75 or older and frontline workers like firefighters and K-12 teachers.
Wading in
Charlottesville City School Board member Juandiego Wade announced that he’s running for City Council this year. Wade, a school board member since 2006, was awarded the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Paul Goodloe McIntire Citizenship Award in 2019. Certainly, it takes a person with real character to run for council after watching how city government has worked for the last few years.