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Roads re-open after fog, ice causes 69-car pileup, injuries on I-64 near Williamsburg

A pileup involving at least 69 cars caused massive delays and numerous injuries on Interstate 64 near the Queens Creek Overpass in York County, Virginia, according to the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office. The series of crashes started at 7:51 a.m. Sunday and were caused by ice and fog on the Queens Creek Bridge westbound lanes of I-64 near the 239 mile marker in York County, Virginia, according to Virginia State Police. Crashes in the eastbound lane happened due to rubbernecking. By Sunday evening, the police updated the number of cars involved to 69, noting that 55 people were taken to the hospital. While none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, 11 are serious. The crashes prompted the highway to close in both directions with cars being detoured around the accident sites. The highway re-opened in two phases, with eastbound lanes opening at about 2 p.m., and westbound lanes opening about 90 minutes later. “At the time that the crashes began, there was ice on the bridge and it was extremely foggy so those are being investigated as factors in what sparked the crashes to occur in both directions of I-64,” said Corinne Geller, Virginia State Police spokesperson.

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“We’re advising folks obviously to avoid the area if they can,” Geller said Sunday morning. “We understand that it’s a very busy time with Christmas just a matter of days away and to be monitoring the Virginia 511 either online or on the app or on twitter.” When it comes to driving in fog and ice, Geller said that police advise drivers to pay attention and to check the road conditions ahead of time. “We know that there is going to be increased volumes of traffic now through probably the rest of the week as people come and go for their Christmas activities and holiday festivities and so forth so we’re just advising folks to plan extra time and to take their time,” Geller said. “Don’t speed, and, of course, if you ever encounter fog you always want to slow your speed and be alert to the probability of the vehicles ahead.” View the approximate location of the incident on the map below: [google_map latitude=”37.2560028″ longitude=”-76.6391627″ zoom=”13″ height=”300px” location_label=”The White House” dynamic_map=”false”]

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
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