A mental health specialist says it will take years to determine whether students will recover from the effects of COVID-19 on their education.
“I don’t think that we have seen the full effects of COVID on a generation,” said Malissa Galliher, clinical director of the Jefferson, Blount, St. Clair Mental Health Authority. Read more.
December 31, 2019: The Chinese office of the World Health Organization reported pneumonia cases with an unknown origin in victims who had connections to a fish market in Wuhan.
January 7, 2020: Chinese health officials isolate and identify the coronavirus as the cause of the Wuhan illnesses. Read more.
Two years ago Sunday – the morning of Friday, March 13 – the first case of COVID-19 was diagnosed in Alabama, and by the end of the day the state had a total of six positive cases. Schools that day announced they would be closing for what they thought would be 2½ weeks to let the virus pass by. Nursing homes closed to all visitors and the first drive-thru testing location in the county opened in Vestavia Hills. That was just two days after the World Health Organization declared that the spread of what then was called the novel coronavirus had reached pandemic levels, a declaration that came three months after the first cases were reported in the city of Wuhan, China. It would grow into a global health crisis on a scale not seen by the world in more than 100 years. In other countries, people already were on mandatory shelter-in-place orders, but the change that would catch the attention of a broad swath of Americans wasn’t that. It was a change in a basketball game. The National Basketball Association hastily called off a game after officials found out that Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert had tested positive for the coronavirus, setting off a chain of events that resulted in the suspension of all NBA play. As COVID spread in early 2020, health officials in Alabama had to move quickly to try to stop the outbreak. Nursing homes were among the first institutions to close down, and for months no visitors were allowed as America’s elderly became the first sacrifices to the pandemic. At first, health officials moved to limit public gatherings to fewer than 500 people, then days later the limit was reduced to 25. Gov. Kay Ivey put in place orders that shut down most nonessential businesses, and schools followed suit; classrooms via online broadcasts such as Zoom became the norm. Entire families stayed under the same roof day in and out as children attended class remotely and their parents either worked from home or had no job to go to. High school sports were shut down for the rest of the 2020 spring sports season, and the football season was affected later in the year. Some schools opted out of play entirely, while weekly lists of scores regularly noted numerous games forfeited because of COVID outbreaks. Places of worship were forced to cancel in-person services, and attending church via online video became the norm. As of now, the U.S. has endured three distinct surges over the past two years. Vaccinations have helped curb cases, but the threat is not yet over. Read more.
The constitutional amendment would authorize a state lottery, sports betting, eight full casinos and two smaller gambling operations. Read more.
Experts say activating unused oil wells could temper the rising costs of gas, but consumers should not expect prices to get anywhere near their COVID low. Read more.
We spent part of Monday’s media ethics class talking about dead bodies. The topic was prompted by some gut-wrenching social media photos of fatalities from Russia’s special operation to liberate Ukraine. (That’s how I’m referring to Vladimir Putin’s immoral invasion of a sovereign nation just in case Putin reads the Arenblog and decides to poison my Diet Coke.) My very smart students nicely framed this longstanding dilemma of whether and when to publish such photos. Respect for the victims, compassion for victims’ families and the danger of exposing audience to upsetting images all dictate not to publish. But showing the truth of war – so that citizens of the world might insist their nations never engage in it – demands no withholding. The New York Times picked its side of one such debate on Monday. Read more.
Parents could get about $5,600 per kid in state money to use for other schooling options. The proposal is currently in a legislative study committee. But experts told WBHM school choice brings up concerns around equity. Read more.
Vestavia Hills legislator David Wheeler died Wednesday morning. The Alabama House of Representatives released the following obituary: State Rep. David Wheeler, R-Vestavia Hills, died this morning. He was 72. A retired employee of Alabama Power Company, he was elected in 2018 to his first term serving House District 47 in Jefferson County. He had qualified
The Birmingham City Council has approved the sale of 222 acres near Lakeshore Parkway to Green Meadow Apartments LLC, which will redevelop the property into single-family, multi-family and senior housing. The city will receive $1.5 million for the property, which is located at 1911 Tiger Walk. General contractor Michael German, the former Alabama field office director for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has represented Green Meadow Apartments at council meetings. He told councilors that the proposed development will include a park, walking trail and a town center — including a grocery store and a community center — and compared the development to the nearby Ross Bridge community. Green Meadow is a minority developer, and Cornell Wesley, the city’s director of innovation and economic opportunity, described its project as potentially transformational for the city. “We are looking at what I believe to be the largest economic impact led by African Americans in our storied history as a city, that being over $100 million worth of economic impact and investment in our area,” Wesley said. Read more.
The Vestavia Hill City Schools along with the superintendent and the city face a lawsuit alleging they’re improperly withholding public information on how they decided COVID-19 masking and safety protocols. The lawsuit was filed by two parents last month. Read more.
