Thursday, July 2, 2020
Pima County had seen 8,577 of the state's 87,425 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,757 people have died after contracting the virus.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 54,757.
This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, 2,938 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A total of 1,371 people arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 30.
A total of 723 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday.
As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket, Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday ordered the closing of some bars and all gyms, movie theaters, water parks, and river tubing activities for at least one month.
Ducey also said Arizona would delay the start of the school year by two weeks to Aug. 17.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman did not join Ducey for the press conference but released a separate statement.
"What Arizona's numbers will look like by Aug. 17 remains unclear," Hoffman said. "But one thing is for certain: If efforts are not taken across the entire state to curb the spread of this virus, our schools will only continue to face complications in reopening their facilities."
In a Tuesday interview with KTAR radio host Mike Broomhead, Hoffman added that schools should be prepared to launch their online programs as soon as possible.
“We are encouraging schools to start their distance learning programs, or their online learning programs, as soon as they are ready to in terms of when their academic year was scheduled to start,” Hoffman said. “If you asked me a month ago or even two weeks ago I would have said plan for schools to be open and now the circumstances have changed so drastically in such a short period. I would say this has been highly unpredictable.”
Ducey warned that Arizonans will see more cases of COVID-19 before the numbers begin to decrease.
“Our expectation is, our numbers will be worse,” said Ducey, who repeated his call for Arizonans to mask up when in public, stay home as much as possible, wash their hands and keep a physical distance from others.
The Department of Health has also activated its “crisis standards of care” and asked hospitals to cancel non-emergency surgeries as more COVID patients fill hospitals, ICU beds, and emergency rooms.
Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik said Ducey's decision was overdue but the right one.
"Our health care workers are exhausted," Kozachik said. "Our health care system is under stress. Families are separated at some of the most emotional and sensitive times of their lives."
Banner Health Chief Clinical Officer Marjorie Bessel announced over the weekend that the hospital network, which treats about half of Arizona's hospitalized COVID patients, was reaching its limit as it activated its surge plan and balanced its load of patients among its facilities. Banner is calling in additional health care workers from around the country.
"We are absolutely experiencing a surge of COVID-19 patients that are coming in for care, and we are starting to get full," she said. "We do have plans, however, to continue to increase our capacity so that we can meet the demand of the communities and all the people that we serve in there. But we do ask everybody to follow all the things that we can do to try and reduce the curve of spread."
Wednesday, July 1, 2020
- The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona crossed 84,000 as of Wednesday, July 1, after the state reported 4,878 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- Take a break from the quarantine blues and head up to Oro Valley to enjoy some live music in a fun, safe, and family-friendly environment at the Gaslight Music Hall.
- During their July 1 morning update, fire crews announced that the Bighorn Fire, which for weeks has burned across the Santa Catalina Mountains, is more than 50 percent contained.
- A handful of Arizona officials have joined 80 House Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in demanding that the Trump administration “safely and swiftly” release children and adults held in immigration detention centers due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- It’s been almost 10 years since Republicans, riding the Tea Party wave, took control of the House of Representatives and started hacking at the IRS’ enforcement budget. Down it went, some years the cuts were steep, some not, as Republican lawmakers laughed off dire warnings about the consequences of letting tax cheats run free.
- In response to demands from a coalition of more than 1,400 faculty, staff and students at the University of Arizona, President Dr. Robert Robbins announced via email that he would halt their planned furloughs until August.
- The number of new COVID-19 cases on the Navajo Nation is on a downward trend, but tribal leaders said Tuesday that does not mean they are ready to ease up on health restrictions.
- Dust storms in Arizona can blow up suddenly, and the patch of desert between Eloy and Picacho Peak is especially prone to wind-driven dust.
- The Arizona Diamondbacks announced their 60-man roster for their upcoming summer training camp Monday, but the biggest news was which player on that list would not be joining the team.
- Smart and Safe Arizona, the citizens' initiative to legalize recreational marijuana filed 420,000 signatures with the Arizona Secretary of State's Office on July 1 to ensure its place on the upcoming Nov. 4 ballot.
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a Facebook live town hall that the tribe will continue its 57-hour weekend lockdown for the next three weeks, meaning most businesses will be closed, people will be encouraged to stay home and visitors will be discouraged. Closure of tribal government offices will also continue.
“What we’re showing you here is that now is not the time to travel. I know it’s summer – we want to travel,” Nez said. “We’ve been sitting in our homes for over three months now, but now is not the time.”
It comes one day after Gov. Doug Ducey was forced to reimpose restrictions on businesses and gatherings in Arizona as the surging number of new cases, hospitalizations and deaths have made the state a national hot spot for the disease.
By comparison, the number of cases on the Navajo Nation have been trending down for most of the past two weeks, Nez said. Except for Saturday, when there were 121 new cases, the Navajo have seen fewer than 100 new cases a day over those two weeks, with one day falling to just 27 positive cases.
In response to demands from a coalition of more than 1,400 faculty, staff and students at the University of Arizona, President Dr. Robert Robbins announced via email that he would halt their planned furloughs until August.
“I have decided the best way forward is to delay the implementation of the university’s furlough and furlough-based salary programs from July 1 to August 10, 2020,” Robbins wrote. "While this move will cost the university approximately $4 million, it will allow us to come together and have meaningful and transparent discussions regarding the tradeoffs we must consider for all faculty and staff who will be impacted."
In April, the university administration announced their plans to mitigate the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. This included a hiring freeze, delays in merit-based pay increases, executive pay cuts, a halt to new building projects and furloughs and pay cuts on a graduated scale to faculty and staff scheduled to begin May 11.
Tags: University of Arizona , Furlough , President Robert Robbins , Coalition for Academic Justice at UArizona , CAJUA , Image
A handful of Arizona officials have joined 80 House Democrats and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in demanding that the Trump administration “safely and swiftly” release children and adults held in immigration detention centers due to the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The group sent a letter to Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Director Matthew T. Albence following an order from a federal judge on June 26 saying that all children who have been detained for more than 20 days at three facilities should be released.
“We write to you to urge you to safely and swiftly release all parents and children that are detained at the Karnes County Residential Center (“Karnes”), the South Texas Family Residential Center (“Dilley”), and the Berks County Residential Center (“Berks”)—the three Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) facilities that detain family units with their children—by July 17, 2020,” the letter reads.
Tags: COVID19 , ICE , Family Separation , Kirkpatrick , Gallego , Stanton , Image
Pima County had seen 8,387 of the state's 84,092 confirmed cases.
Cases in Arizona have more than quadrupled since June 1, when the state had 20,123 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,720 people have died after contracting the virus.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 52,256.
This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, 2,876 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A record 1,289 people arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 30. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667.
A total of 675 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday.
As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket, Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday ordered the closing of some bars and all gyms, movie theaters, water parks, and river tubing activities for at least one month. Ducey also said Arizona would delay the start of the school year by two weeks to Aug. 17.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman did not join Ducey for the press conference but released a separate statement.
"What Arizona's numbers will look like by Aug. 17 remains unclear," Hoffman said. "But one thing is for certain: If efforts are not taken across the entire state to curb the spread of this virus, our schools will only continue to face complications in reopening their facilities."
Yesterday, in an interview with KTAR radio host Mike Broomhead, Hoffman added that schools should be prepared to launch their online programs as soon as possible.
“We are encouraging schools to start their distance learning programs, or their online learning programs, as soon as they are ready to in terms of when their academic year was scheduled to start,” Hoffman said. “If you asked me a month ago or even two weeks ago I would have said plan for schools to be open and now the circumstances have changed so drastically in such a short period. I would say this has been highly unpredictable.”
Ducey warned that Arizonans will see more cases of COVID-19 before the numbers begin to decrease.
“Our expectation is, our numbers will be worse,” said Ducey, who repeated his call for Arizonans to mask up when in public, stay home as much as possible, wash their hands and keep a physical distance from others.
The Department of Health has also activated its “crisis standards of care” and asked hospitals to cancel non-emergency surgeries as more COVID patients fill hospitals, ICU beds, and emergency rooms.
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
UA Athletics Department reported one student-athlete tested positive for COVD-19 out of 83 others who recently returned to campus for voluntary physical activities. UA Officials confirm the student-athlete is following department guidelines for students who are confirmed to have coronavirus.
The university has not announced if this will delay the 2020-2021 football season. At this time, the fall semester is still expected to resume on Aug. 24.
Governor Doug Ducey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman announced a new funding plan last week intended to help public school districts across the state safely open at the beginning of the 2020-21 school year.
The plan includes $200 million to help districts bolster their remote learning capacity, and protect against any budget shortfalls next year. As COVID-19 cases surge across the state, the possibility for schools to return to normal operations in the fall is slim to none.
“Our schools need as much stability and certainty as possible during these most uncertain of times,” Hoffman said in a press release. “This plan will help schools provide adaptable and flexible learning environments for students, families, and teachers and help operationalize the guidance provided in our Roadmap to Reopening schools. While many unknowns remain, our school communities are resilient, and I know they will rise to meet this moment for public education.”
Tags: Governor Doug Ducey , Superintendent Kathy Hoffman , Reopening , Funding , Schools , COVID19 , Distance Learning , Remote Learning , Digital Learning , Image
That high number reflects cases that would have been reported yesterday but were not because of a technical glitch.
Pima County had seen 8,004 of the state's 79,215 confirmed cases.
Cases in Arizona have nearly quadrupled since June 1, when the state had 20,123 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,632 people have died after contracting the virus.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 48,592.
As COVID-19 cases continue to skyrocket, Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday ordered the closing of bars, gyms, movie theaters, water parks and river tubing activities for at least one month.
Ducey also said Arizona would delay the start of the school year by two weeks to Aug. 17.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman did not join Ducey for the press conference, but released a separate statement.
"What Arizona's numbers will look like by Aug. 17 remains unclear," Hoffman said. "But one thing is for certain: If efforts are not taken across the entire state to curb the spread of this virus, our schools will only continue to face complications in reopening their facilities."
Ducey warned that Arizonans will see more cases of COVID-19 before the numbers begin to decrease.
“Our expectation is, our numbers will be worse,” said Ducey, who repeated his call for Arizonans to mask up when in public, stay home as much as possible, wash their hands and keep a physical distance from others.
The Department of Health will also activate its “crisis standards of care” and cancel non-emergency surgeries as more COVID patients fill hospitals, ICU beds and emergency rooms.
Tucson City Councilman Steve Kozachik, who planned to ask fellow council members to close bars and limit restaurants to take-out service at their next meeting, said Ducey's decision was overdue but the right one.
"Our health care workers are exhausted," Kozachik said. "Our health care system is under stress. Families are separated at some of the most emotional and sensitive times of their lives. While my preference would have been to see a resumption of the original Stay at Home conditions, closing bars and adding these new conditions approximate what I had intended for tomorrow's meeting. The Governor indicates he will continue to look at conditions and will remain flexible going forward. My hope is that his responsiveness is more timely than it has proven to be in the past, whether that amounts to more tightening, or loosening once again."
Banner Health Chief Clinical Officer Marjorie Bessel announced over the weekend that the hospital network, which treats about half of Arizona's hospitalized COVID patients, was reaching its limit as it activated its surge plan and balanced its load of patients among its facilities. Banner is calling in additional health care workers from around the country.
"We are absolutely experiencing a surge of COVID-19 patients that are coming in for care, and we are starting to get full," she said. "We do have plans, however, to continue to increase our capacity so that we can meet the demand of the communities and all the people that we serve in there. But we do ask everybody to follow all the things that we can do to try and reduce the curve of spread."
Elsewhere on the COVID-19 beat:
Monday, June 29, 2020
Arizona Department of Health Services tweeted earlier this morning that not all new cases are reflected in the daily total and that a higher number is to be expected tomorrow because of this.
Changes in lifestyle associated with COVID-19 have heightened concerns among health professionals about anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating, and other eating disorders.
It will be another hot, windy day on the flanks of the Catalina Mountains, where the Bighorn Fire has burned 107,000 acres over the past three weeks.
Nearly three years after it won endangered species status, the Sonoyta mud turtle was granted 12.3 acres of protected habitat this week – but supporters worry that that habitat may no longer provide all the protection the turtles need.
Spike Lee follows up BlacKkKlansman, one of his best movies, with another great one, Da 5 Bloods, now out on Netflix.
Several Scottsdale bars and restaurants labeled “bad actors” by Gov. Doug Ducey have shut down temporarily, and they’re pushing back on his allegations that they disregarded safety protocols meant to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned states not to use COVID-19 testing supplies it bought under a $10.2 million contract after a ProPublica investigation last week showed the vendor was providing contaminated and unusable mini soda bottles.
Arizona elections officials disputed President Donald Trump’s latest attacks on mail-in voting, which he leveled Tuesday at a Students for Trump rally in north-central Phoenix.
Since June 1, Arizona’s poison centers have received 14 cases related to people drinking homemade liquor and hand sanitizers in hopes of getting drunk.
Even if you have never stepped foot in Arizona, you know that it's hot here. As much as we joke about our lovely oven environment, we only do so because most of us have access to either air conditioning or swamp coolers. Not everyone who lives here has that luxury.
