Thursday, July 30, 2020
This spring, as the coronavirus spread and international travel bans grounded flights, Gebrish Weldemariam got a layoff letter from his airline catering job at Dulles International Airport.
He’d been working as a driver making more than $18 per hour for Flying Food Group, ferrying in-flight meals between the company’s kitchen and gated planes waiting on the tarmac. Between overtime at the airport and a part-time job driving buses on the side, Weldemariam felt that times were good. Last fall, with his wife expecting a fourth child, the family bought a house not far from the airport, allowing him to be nearby to help care for his oldest son, who has Down syndrome and needs constant attention.
“I have kids. I have a mortgage. I have two car loans,” Weldemariam said. “That’s why I work hard.”
Flying Food Group told him only that when business picks up, it would call him. Now, even with boosted unemployment benefits, he said he makes $600 less than a typical week when he was working. He’s worried he won’t be able to cover all of his monthly bills.
Flying Food didn’t just lay off Weldemariam. The Chicago-based company, one of the largest airline caterers in the country, has pink slipped more than 2,000 other workers since March. The cuts left the vast majority of its workforce out of a job at facilities in California, Chicago, Virginia and the New York City area, according to the union UNITE HERE, which represents Flying Food workers. Then in June, the Flying Food was approved to receive $85 million from the Trump administration from a pandemic relief program that was intended to preserve those very jobs.
MUSD Superintendent Dan Streeter said the district is working with the state Department of Education, the Pima County Health Department, Marana Health Center and other entities to ensure they are adequately prepared to begin the school year.
“Each of the superintendents throughout the county have been meeting with Dr. Cullen and Dr. Garcia and talking about what are those metrics that the governor referenced that make sense for a safe reopening in Pima County,” Streeter told the governing board.
Earlier this week, County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry indicated that he, Health Department Direct Dr. Theresa Cullen and Chief Medical Officer Dr. Francisco Garcia believe school cannot resume in-person before Labor Day, Sept. 7, at the earliest.
While the district’s plan is remote learning-focused, Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order for reopening schools specifies that each district must have an open learning center by Aug. 17 for “at-risk” students who need a place to go during the day. Special needs students will also have individualized schedules that may differ from the majority of the student body.
MHC Healthcare has been advising the district on what the proper protocols should be if positive COVID-19 cases are present on an MUSD campus, what contact tracing will look like and what the appropriate sanitary and face mask policies should be.
MUSD has also been working with Corgan, a national architectural firm, to perform “journey mapping.” Streeter said this will help the district identify each school’s high traffic areas, frequently touched areas, where hand sanitizer dispenser and handwashing stations should be established, and the best options for classroom layouts with physical distancing.
This road is one of two ways out of Bajo Chiquito, the first stop migrants come to beyond the Darién Gap – the 60-mile stretch of jungle at Panama’s southern border with Colombia and one of the most dangerous places in the world. Familiar themes echo in migrant stories of crossing the Darién: flash floods, wild animals, thieves, smugglers and infection are among the threats that come with the jungle’s diverse terrain of rocks, rivers and thick vegetation.
Medical attention can be critical for migrants on the other side of the jungle, but few doctors and limited supplies in Bajo Chiquito force some to wait until their conditions worsen before continuing north.
The need for health care is even more pressing for Dieumes’ wife, Mircagnard Janvier, and other pregnant women who reach the camp on an almost daily basis, carrying with them the well-being of two lives.
Pima County had seen 15,884 of the state's 170,798 confirmed cases.
A total of 3,626 people have died after contracting the virus, including 450 in Pima County.
Maricopa County had 114,852 of the state's cases.
Hospitals remain under pressure, although they report a slight decrease in the number of Arizonans hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms. The report shows that 2,348 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state, down from a peak of 3,517 on July 13. That’s the lowest number of hospitalized COViD patients since June 24, when 2,453 people were in hospital beds.
A total of 1,315 people visited ERs yesterday with COVID symptoms, an increase since July 27 when 1,158 sought help from symptoms at the ER. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.
A total of 758 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday, the lowest number since July 3, when 796 COVID patients were in ICU. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.
TRAILING IN POLLS, TRUMP ASKS FOR DELAY IN NOVEMBER ELECTION
As he trails in the polls to Democrat Joe Biden, President Donald Trump this morning called for a delay in the November election.
“With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history,” Trump said on Twitter this morning. “It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote???”
Trump has no authority to delay the election as the date is set by Congress and elections are run by states.
In other national news, 2012 GOP Republican candidate Herman Cain has died after contracting coronavirus. Cain was photographed at a June Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, without a mask shortly before he was diagnosed with the virus.
Wednesday, July 29, 2020
- The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona climbed past 168,000 as of Wednesday, July 29, after the state reported 2,339 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- The University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and Television’s 15th annual I Dream In Widescreen student film festival faced several challenges this year due to COVID-19. However, these complications turned the showcase into an online festival, allowing more viewers to see the student films than ever before.
- A candidate for Pima County Attorney returned a campaign contribution from a Tucson man awaiting trial for manslaughter after the Tucson Weekly discovered the donation on the candidate’s recently submitted 2020 pre-primary campaign finance report.
- The Trump administration said Tuesday it will stop accepting new Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals applications and will limit DACA renewals to one year while it undertakes a “full reconsideration” of the Obama-era policy.
- Thousands of gallons of wasted milk. Unpredictable, zigzagging prices. Abrupt dips and surges in demand. The past four months have been a roller coaster for Arizona dairy farms, as the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way some of their biggest clients did business.
The past four months have been a roller coaster for Arizona dairy farms, as the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way some of their biggest clients did business.
The ride isn’t over yet: Arizona is a COVID-19 hotspot, meaning impacts on school and restaurant operations – and their dairy needs – remain uncertain.
Food banks find themselves overwhelmed with community demand, yet some struggle to safely store and distribute the flood of milk being donated.
And beyond Arizona’s borders, foreign dairy markets continue to evolve.
“In 46 years, I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Keith Murfield, chief executive officer of United Dairymen of Arizona.
The market value for dairy products made in Arizona exceeds $762 million and is one of the top five agricultural commodities for the state, according to the Arizona Commerce Authority.
The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona climbed past 168,000 as of Wednesday, July 29, after the state reported 2,339 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 15,601 of the state's 168,273 confirmed cases.
A total of 3,454 people have died after contracting the virus, including 431 in Pima County.
Maricopa County had 113,148 of the state's cases.
Hospitals remain under pressure, although they report a slight decrease in the number of Arizonans hospitalized with COVID-19-related symptoms. The report shows that 2,424 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state, down from a peak of 3,517 on July 13. That’s the lowest number of hospitalized COViD patients since June 24, when 2,453 people were in hospital beds.
A total of 1,225 people visited ERs yesterday with COVID symptoms, a slight increase from yesterday's low when 1,158 people sought help in ERs for COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.
A total of 800 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday, the lowest number since July 4, when 821 COVID patients were in ICU. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.
HUCKELBERRY: UNSAFE TO OPEN SCHOOLS IN AUGUST
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry yesterday said schools should not reopen for in-person instruction on Aug. 17, based on the county’s current data on COVID-19 community spread.
Huckelberry sent a letter to all Pima County public school superintendents on Tuesday, July 28, to follow up on Gov. Doug Ducey’s recent executive order, which directed all county health departments to work with local school districts to determine when it is safe to return to school campuses.
“Clearly, County public health agencies with real-time information and data regarding the pandemic are in the best position to offer public health advice regarding school activities related to managing the spread of COVID-19,” Huckelberry wrote.
Tuesday, July 28, 2020
Federal authorities are using a new tactic in their battle against protesters in Portland, Oregon: arrest them on offenses as minor as “failing to obey” an order to get off a sidewalk on federal property — and then tell them they can’t protest anymore as a condition for release from jail.
Legal experts describe the move as a blatant violation of the constitutional right to free assembly, but at least 12 protesters arrested in recent weeks have been specifically barred from attending protests or demonstrations as they await trials on federal misdemeanor charges.
“Defendant may not attend any other protests, rallies, assemblies or public gathering in the state of Oregon,” states one “Order Setting Conditions of Release” for an accused protester, alongside other conditions such as appearing for court dates. The orders are signed by federal magistrate judges.
For other defendants, the restricted area is limited to Portland, where clashes between protesters and federal troops have grown increasingly violent in recent weeks. In at least two cases, there are no geographic restrictions; one release document instructs, “Do not participate in any protests, demonstrations, rallies, assemblies while this case is pending.”
Protesters who have agreed to stay away from further demonstrations say they felt forced to accept those terms to get out of jail.
“I’m very honored that they selected us for this particular study,” Dr. John McGettigan, owner and founder of the center, told the newspaper. “It’s probably the most important research study that I’ll be involved in in my career.”
Results from phase 1 vaccine trials, which were positive, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine on July 14. The initial vaccine, mRNA-1273, “induced anti–SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in all participants, and no trial-limiting safety concerns were identified,” according to the summary. The vaccine was able to direct itself to a portion of the coronavirus that binds to other cells.
In phase 3 trials, volunteers will receive two doses of the vaccine 29 days apart. A control group will receive a placebo.
Two Tucson Democratic state lawmakers joined a few of their colleagues this week to sharply criticize the Arizona Department of Corrections new media relations policy as COVID-19 spreads across Arizona and within the state’s 16 prison complexes.
In early July, the department restricted reporters’ access to incarcerated people, allowing them to submit questions only through email or physical mail. Prior to this, the media was able to contact incarcerated individuals directly through mail, phone calls and in-person visits.
While the department has prohibited all in-person visitation since March 13 in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19, the crackdown on reporters’ contact with incarcerated people has been received as restrictive and lacking transparency.
In a letter to ADC Director David Shinn, a handful of Democratic state representatives—
including Tucson Reps. Kirsten Engel and Domingo DeGrazia of District 10—wrote that the new media policy is “intentionally and cynically burdensome” to incarcerated people and news reporters who are trying to communicate with each other.
In order to speak with incarcerated individuals telephonically, a reporter must contact the individual’s family and have them add the reporter to the individual’s approved caller list. If the department approves the change, then they can speak to the individual.
This process can take up to 30 days, and incarcerated people have to pay fees in order to speak to reporters on the phone, according to the letter.
In addition, ADC told their employees they are not authorized to speak to the media on behalf of the department, and all inquiries should be directed to ADC’s official communications team. Before the pandemic, employees were allowed to freely talk to the press about their personal opinions about the department.
“None of these changes in the new policy are rationally related to any safety concerns at the prisons,” the letter states. “Instead, they seem solely focused on the Department’s desire to control the flow of information regarding Arizona’s prisons to the public, and members of this Legislature.”
Tags: COVID19 , Coronavirus , Arizona Department of Corrections , Media Policy , Image
