UU Charlottesville Building Use Task Force Update May 12, 2021 – Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Charlottesville

Posted on May 13, 2021 Posted By: Achsah Carrier Categories: News & Views, Nuts & Bolts

The Build Use Task Force is guided by public health markers as one of our benchmarks for when we will be able to meet in person in the church building. Based on the information from our most recent Task Force meeting we continue to be in the Yellow Category and our buildings remain closed.

The latest data from the Blue Ridge Health District are 7-day average of 5.4 daily new cases, which translates to approximately 2.2/100,000 (putting us in the Yellow phase) (https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/blue-ridge/covid-19-brhd-data-portal/).

Other data:

• 14-day consecutive decline in:

1. 1. numbers of people testing positive for COVID-19 – Blue Ridge Health District 7-day average percent positivity is at 1.5%, down from 2.6% on 4/25 (https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/blue-ridge/testing/)
  2. hospitalizations – essentially no change at UVA in the last 6 weeks, leveled off at about 23-24 per day since 3/22 (https://coronavirus.virginia.edu/covid-tracker)
  3. intensive care bed use – data are no longer available

• Widespread testing – test positivity rate less than 10% has been suggested by the WHO as an indicator of adequate testing, although some recommend a lower threshold

• 7-day average for Blue Ridge Health District is at 1.5% as noted above

• Contact tracing available to track the spread of the virus – don’t have ready access to those data

• Sufficient supply of personal protective equipment – at UVA, >250 days on hand each of surgical and N95 masks

• Evidence that our health care systems have sufficient equipment and are not overwhelmed by the number of cases. – UVA is well below capacity at present.

FYI a Harvard group has advocated the following guidelines for jurisdictions, such as Blue Ridge Health District (https://ethics.harvard.edu/files/center-for-ethics/files/key_metrics_and_indicators_v4.pdf):