Talk:COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia

WikiProject COVID-19
I've created WikiProject COVID-19 as a temporary or permanent WikiProject and invite editors to use this space for discussing ways to improve coverage of the ongoing 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic. Please bring your ideas to the project/talk page. Stay safe, --- Another Believer ( Talk ) 16:51, 15 March 2020 (UTC)

The First Sentence
This article's first sentence is a tautology. I will use ellipsis to illustrate that.

"The ... pandemic in Virginia is part of an ongoing pandemic ... in ... Virginia."

Virginia's coronavirus pandemic is part of a worldwide pandemic. 69.137.146.91 (talk) 04:13, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

I changed the wording slightly to correct this. 69.137.146.91 (talk) 04:23, 22 March 2020 (UTC)

Change to chart - math mistake
Hello, on the chart titled COVID-19 cases in Virginia, United States, there is a mistake in the case increase amount from March 23 to March 24. It says +46 when it should say +36. The percentage calculation of 14.2% is accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2600:4040:1060:5B00:B401:BBF8:804B:4A12 (talk) 17:24, 24 March 2020 (UTC)
 * You're right. Thanks for catching that. Shearonink (talk) 15:31, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Peninsula Health District death
First time on a talk page, so be gentle. As far as I can recall, when the second death from COVID-19 occurred in Virginia, the only municipality in the district that had any cases at that time was James City County. Thusly, wouldn't it make sense that the death was from James City County, even though the district still hasn't specifically said that was the case? Just a thought, and I could be wrong. Thanks! JayKibler (talk) 12:18, 25 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It was reported in reliable sources as taking place in the Peninsula Health District. I don't know why there wasn't more specificity in the VDH statements. We can extrapolate and infer and what you said makes sense but that would be original research and that's a no-no. We have to stick with what reliable sources state. If a reliable source comes up with more specificity then we can edit the statement accordingly. It does seem to me that in the early numbers most states or localities were quite vague and as non-specific as possible, perhaps out of an abundance of caution and protecting people who test positive but who are sheltering in their homes. If you find a reliable source that is more explicit as to the person's location, have at it. Shearonink (talk) 15:03, 25 March 2020 (UTC)

Fairfax County Parks "closed" sign image
In a recent edit this image was placed within the infobox. It seemed to me that this sign photo was overshadowing the Virginia counties map so I moved it elsewhere in the article but let's discuss etc. Shearonink (talk) 14:26, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I have no trouble with moving it. I just thought the infobox looked lonely without an image, and that was the one I chose. :-) For what it's worth, a lot of the other US state and territory articles on the outbreak have some sort of image in the infobox. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 16:38, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Fair point. but can the image be put underneath the map? I think the map should be primary, what people see first at the top of the article, but yeah... I think the issue for me is that the sign image is so tall, it visually takes over the infobox. Is there maybe another Virginia COVID-19 image that is chunkier, that would match the width of the map? Another month of this social distancing...*sigh*. Shearonink (talk) 17:22, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Take your pick. I have a few more pictures on my phone as well, if none of those will do the trick. I did want to avoid the CBP images, because those are related to the federal government and not the state. Ah, well...gives us something to do while we wait for insanity to take hold. Although in my case... -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 18:50, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I moved the image back to the infobox but made it smaller. What do you think?... Shearonink (talk) 19:43, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * It's not showing, for some reason... -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 19:44, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * I thought I had saved the change but apparently not...now it's saved. Shearonink (talk) 19:46, 30 March 2020 (UTC)
 * That's good, I think. Gets the point across nicely. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 19:51, 30 March 2020 (UTC)

Can anyone find updated death statistics? For the County/City table?
I have been unable to find the death statistics for the County/City table, other than local newspaper articles & local TV-news reports. Has anyone been able to find an updated list from a reliable source that states where the deaths have occurred? Help! and thanks - Shearonink (talk) 19:54, 31 March 2020 (UTC)
 * Nevermind, Virginia doesn't officially report county/city death statistics, they instead report them by Health District. If the death stats are updated by editors they will have to rely on media reports from reliable sources. Shearonink (talk) 19:56, 6 April 2020 (UTC)

Am puzzled by graphic/assertion from University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (HealthData.Org)...
This states non-essential services are not closed (per this edit). Is this possibly incorrect? Northam's Executive Order Fifty-Three closed certain non-essential businesses and detailed at length the businesses that were allowed to remain open, travel is severely-restricted, the stay-at-home order is in-effect, etc. Shearonink (talk) 20:11, 6 April 2020 (UTC)


 * The language in the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's statement that my edit described is correct.


 * Governor Northam's March 23 Executive Order Number Fifty-Three (2020) "Temporary Restrictions on Restaurants, Recreational, Entertainment, Gatherings, Non-Essential Retail Businesses, and Closure of K-12 Schools Due To Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)" identifies certain "essential" retail businesses that would remain during their normal business hours. The order did not identify any "non-essential" businesses or even contain the term "non-essential" outside of its title. Governor Northam's order instead only closed "all dining and congregation areas in restaurants, dining establishments, food courts, breweries, microbreweries, distilleries, wineries, tasting rooms, and farmers markets" and "recreational and entertainment businesses" (see https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/executive-actions/EO-53-Temporary-Restrictions-Due-To-Novel-Coronavirus-(COVID-19).pdf).


 * Governor Northam's order therefore permits some or all parts of many types of businesses (such as bars and pubs that don't serve food, mattress stores, parts of restaurants that are not within dining or congregation areas, vape shops, bicycle shops, hardware stores, department stores without grocery or pharmacy operations, areas within automobile sales rooms, etc.) to remain open.


 * In contrast, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's March 23 Order Number 20-03-23-01 "Amending And Restating The Order Of March 19, 2020 Prohibiting Large Gatherings and Events And Closing Senior Centers, And Additionally Closing All Nonessential Businesses And Other Establishments" contains a provision that closes all "businesses, organizations, establishments, and facilities that are not part of the critical infrastructure sectors identified by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastruction Security Agency" (see https://governor.maryland.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Gatherings-THIRD-AMENDED-3.23.20.pdf).


 * Virginia does not have any "bars and pubs that don't serve food." There are minimum percentages of food sales that ABC license holders must meet, with an exception for breweries, microbreweries, distilleries, wineries, and tasting rooms that either produce on site or meet other requirements.  Therefore there are no pubs or bars in the state of Virginia, they are all restaurants. (see https://www.virginiamercury.com/2018/10/02/where-did-virginias-food-to-liquor-ratio-come-from-and-does-it-still-serve-a-purpose/ )  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bksward (talk • contribs) 18:15, 28 May 2020 (UTC)


 * There is a big difference between Governor Northam's and Governor Hogan's March 23 orders. The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's statement recognizes this. Corker1 (talk) 00:38, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * See, the way you explained it, that all makes sense. Thanks, Shearonink (talk) 00:57, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

If a person didn't die?
Are the number of active cases reduced? One would assume the vast percentage do not die. But this number is not displayed in the stats.2600:8805:3A00:1038:3D5D:411C:1748:ABDF (talk) 23:41, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * All we can do as Wikipedia editors is report what the reliable sources state. Shearonink (talk) 00:58, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * The first graph under §Statistics labels the red bars as "Active cases", but the source does not include this data. It reports "Total Deaths" and "Total Cases" which it describes as "Positive Tests Among People Tested".  It is incorrect to describe the difference of those two figures as "Active cases" as that difference includes both active cases and recoveries.  The sources gives neither active cases nor recoveries, so we are unable to differentiate further.
 * "Active cases" is the default label generated by the Medical cases chart template. I've edited 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic data/United States/Virginia medical cases chart, adding "altlbl1=Active cases & recoveries" to correct this. -- ToE 16:55, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

cluster
This ref 1 reports that 42 of the 154 cases are at one facility, more than 25%.--Billymac00 (talk) 15:49, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I've added that information to the article. Shearonink (talk) 17:08, 14 April 2020 (UTC)

Population figures recently added to article
Populations were added for the counties here and here but no refs were given. At all. I have asked the editor who added those figures to provide references/sources. Keeping in mind WP:verifiability and reliable sources, referencing from reliable sources must be provided, otherwise, those population figures and percentages should be removed from the article. Shearonink (talk) 22:32, 14 April 2020 (UTC)
 * That editor has now provided a ref: US Census 2019 Virginia County Population Estimates. -- ToE 22:06, 15 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I noticed that - YAY! I knew they had to be working from real statistics and they were operating in good faith but gotta have those sources. Shearonink (talk) 01:33, 16 April 2020 (UTC)

Deaths by health district
Since the VDH is now regularly reporting deaths for each county, I think the table for health districts is redundant and can be removed from the article. Thoughts? Jayab 314  13:16, 25 April 2020 (UTC)I hid the table until a decision is made. Jayab 314  14:05, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Fine by me. Now that deaths are reported by county I don't think the health districts table adds anything. Leviavery (talk) 14:14, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * The VDH said they were doing that to protect people's privacy especially for people in individual counties/cities where there were small numbers of deaths...it would be easy to figure out who the deceased people were - HIPAA etc. I am going to disagree on removing the table completely. I am not sure it should be removed - the death reporting by health districts is part of the historic timeline of events. How about putting the table into the timeline or into Notes with a hide-show and sourced explanation? Shearonink (talk) 15:48, 25 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I concur with Shearonink. It is important to retain the historic timeline of events in one way or another. Corker1 (talk) 17:05, 25 April 2020 (UTC)


 * Firstly, you don't hide, strike, or undo another editor's work of that size before getting consensus to do so. Secondly, in this case, redundancy is good, as there's nothing similar between tables in any way.  Wylie pedia  @ 20:25, 25 April 2020 (UTC)

Data mistake or inconsistency
The colorized map of Virginia shows two counties with zero cases. The table a bit farther down shows 3 counties with zero cases. I believe this is a mistake in one or the other because they are inconsistent. 1-Jul-2020
 * Both are pretty out of date right now, but the data in the table is from all the way back in May, while the map is more recent. Leviavery (talk) 21:09, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Statistics table
Since I removed the outdated statistics table a few days ago, I figured I should provide better data too. Here's a chart. Cases and deaths derive from, 2019 population derives from (the Virginia link under "Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Counties: April 1, 2010 to July 1, 2019"), and percentages are calculated from the other data. Nyttend (talk) 18:52, 1 February 2021 (UTC)
 * , Thanks for providing this data here. I am interested in deep linking the VDH dashboard that provides daily case rates and have asked my Wiki Education instructor how to do so. I'll update once I figure how to do this. Caracol1313 (talk) 16:09, 8 February 2021 (UTC)
 * You're quite welcome. Unfortunately I don't know how to get good statistics without mousing over individual counties and cities, which is particularly hard with Manassas and Manassas Park (they've mis-marked the two cities) and other cities that are small, and it takes much longer than if we could download statistics from a chart.  This makes updates take a good deal more work.  Nyttend (talk) 18:10, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

K-12 Education
Hello, I've added info on K-12 education, mainly as it relates to operational status of public schools. I'd welcome additional info and/or suggestions on either public or private education throughout the state. Thanks! Caracol1313 (talk) 16:13, 8 February 2021 (UTC)

Impact on Prisons
I added some information on the COVID-19 impact on prisons. There's a table on the VA ACLU website that includes weekly data on release decisions, COVID case numbers, etc, at individual correctional facilities, but I've yet to figure out how best to upload it. If you know how to do deep linking or have other ideas about how best to use this, I'd be interested in learning more. Thanks all! Caracol1313 (talk) 17:31, 24 February 2021 (UTC)

Where exactly is the estimated recoveries source?
The template on the right side of the page cites page as source for the estimated recoveries, but i can't find them. Chopanero77 (talk) 13:34, 15 March 2021 (UTC)