Thursday, June 25, 2020
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has blunt advice for anyone worried about catching COVID-19: Stay home where it’s safer.
The governor’s tip, delivered during his weekly press conference, came as the state passed 63,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
“COVID-19 is widespread in Arizona,” Ducey said. “It’s in all 15 of our counties. It’s growing, and it’s growing fast across all age groups and demographics. Anyone can get this virus, and anyone can spread this virus.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services listed 3,056 new cases Wednesday morning. Pima County has seen 6,546 of the state's 63,033 confirmed cases. A total of 1,490 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County. Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 37,135.
Ducey called the rate at which the virus is spreading “unacceptable,” and says now is the time for all Arizonans to take personal responsibility for their actions by donning a mask in public, washing their hands often, and maintaining six feet of social distance.
The governor’s tip, delivered during his weekly press conference, came as the state passed 63,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus.
“COVID-19 is widespread in Arizona,” Ducey said. “It’s in all 15 of our counties. It’s growing, and it’s growing fast across all age groups and demographics. Anyone can get this virus, and anyone can spread this virus.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services listed 3,056 new cases Wednesday morning. Pima County has seen 6,546 of the state's 63,033 confirmed cases. A total of 1,490 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County. Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 37,135.
Ducey called the rate at which the virus is spreading “unacceptable,” and says now is the time for all Arizonans to take personal responsibility for their actions by donning a mask in public, washing their hands often, and maintaining six feet of social distance.
Terry Rogers holds a photo of Michael Williams, her brother, in front of her home in Bridge City, Louisiana, on May 17, 2020. (Kathleen Flynn/ProPublica)
By the time he persuaded the guards to let him call his family, Michael Williams could feel his life slipping away. His body ached, and he was struggling to breathe. For three days, he had been locked behind the heavy metal door of a cramped prison cell, terrified and alone.
“They weren’t treating him,” his son, Kevin Cooks, recalled. “He kept telling me, ‘Son, I’m going to die in here.’” Williams, a 70-year-old diabetic, was serving a life sentence for a 1974 convenience store murder he had always maintained he did not commit. It was the first time his son had ever heard him cry.
Williams’ family and his lawyer called over and over to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola, pleading with guards and nurses to have him moved to a hospital. When they finally reached one of the senior guard officers, family members said, he told them Williams didn’t have the virus.
On May 7, a nurse assured one of Williams’ sisters that he was improving. The next day, he was rushed to a regional hospital in critical condition. The day after that, a doctor called to say Williams had gone into cardiac arrest. If they wanted to say goodbye, he said, they should hurry.
While the novel coronavirus burned through Angola, as the country’s largest maximum-security prison is known, officials insisted they were testing all inmates who showed symptoms, isolating those who got sick and transferring more serious cases to the hospital in Baton Rouge, about 60 miles to the south.
But from inside Angola’s walls, inmates painted a very different picture — one of widespread illness, dysfunctional care and sometimes inexplicable neglect. They said at least four of the 12 prisoners who have died in the pandemic, including Williams, had been denied needed medical help for days because their symptoms were not considered sufficiently serious.
Jaime Rivera, a TaskRabbit worker, said the warning “medical use prohibited” was omitted when masks were moved from their original packaging, shown at left in an image shared by Rivera, into new packaging, right. A mask broker tried to sell them to the Texas Division of Emergency Management. (Right: Courtesy of Texas Division of Emergency Management)
This article is co-published with The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsroom that informs and engages with Texans.
Lucas Rensko was making money through a popular handyman-for-hire app called TaskRabbit, doing odd jobs and delivering groceries, when he picked up a task that led him to a leaky-roofed warehouse on a tattered road in northwest San Antonio.
Inside, a man named Jaime Rivera had set up long tables where five or six other “Taskers” earning about $20 an hour were ripping Chinese masks out of plastic bags and stuffing them into new ones that were identical but for one potentially deadly difference. The old packages were labeled in all caps “MEDICAL USE PROHIBITED,” meaning not to be used by doctors and nurses who need the strongest protection from tiny particles carrying the novel coronavirus. The new bags, intended to make their way to Texas hospitals, simply omitted that warning.
This seemingly small deception highlights a huge problem for medical workers whose best defense against a virus that ravages the body with horrifying complexity is a simple, but trustworthy, mask. That trust has eroded as Chinese-made masks claiming, sometimes falsely, to be 95% effective at filtering virus-laden particles made their way into hospitals and now local convenience stores. You might have bought them: KN95s.
PHOENIX – When Major League Baseball canceled the remainder of spring training games on March 12 in response to the coronavirus pandemic, it was with the initial hope of holding Opening Day for the 2020 season on April 9.
That hope never manifested as the spread of the coronavirus forced the league and its players into a labor dispute that lasted just shy of three months. After much back and forth between MLB and the MLBPA, the two sides managed to strike a deal on Monday.
Finally, it was decided, there will be baseball in 2020.
“I can’t wait to compete and have our players compete,” Diamondbacks Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Hazen said Wednesday. “The hardest part of this has been the team we put together in the offseason getting paused and not getting to see those guys go out there as a team. They tell us to play, we’re going to go out there and compete. We have a good team and I’m glad we’re going to be able to bring baseball to a lot of people.”
Teams are to report to a “Spring Training 2.0” at their home facilities on July 1 to begin preparing for a 60-game season that will begin on July 23.
The Diamondbacks’ schedule will feature 10 games against each club in the National League West. The remaining games will be played against clubs playing in their opposite league’s corresponding geographical division in order to mitigate travel. For the Diamondbacks, that means playing against teams in the American League West, setting up entertaining matchups with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers and the 2019 American League champion Houston Astros.
In an effort to finish games more quickly, every half-inning after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base, USA Today reported. The designated runner would be the player who made the final out in the previous half-inning.
On top of that, the designated hitter will be utilized in the National League for the first time in 2020. Thus far, neither of these rule changes has been extended past this upcoming season.
That hope never manifested as the spread of the coronavirus forced the league and its players into a labor dispute that lasted just shy of three months. After much back and forth between MLB and the MLBPA, the two sides managed to strike a deal on Monday.
Finally, it was decided, there will be baseball in 2020.
“I can’t wait to compete and have our players compete,” Diamondbacks Executive Vice President and General Manager Mike Hazen said Wednesday. “The hardest part of this has been the team we put together in the offseason getting paused and not getting to see those guys go out there as a team. They tell us to play, we’re going to go out there and compete. We have a good team and I’m glad we’re going to be able to bring baseball to a lot of people.”
Teams are to report to a “Spring Training 2.0” at their home facilities on July 1 to begin preparing for a 60-game season that will begin on July 23.
The Diamondbacks’ schedule will feature 10 games against each club in the National League West. The remaining games will be played against clubs playing in their opposite league’s corresponding geographical division in order to mitigate travel. For the Diamondbacks, that means playing against teams in the American League West, setting up entertaining matchups with the rival Los Angeles Dodgers and the 2019 American League champion Houston Astros.
In an effort to finish games more quickly, every half-inning after the ninth will begin with a runner on second base, USA Today reported. The designated runner would be the player who made the final out in the previous half-inning.
On top of that, the designated hitter will be utilized in the National League for the first time in 2020. Thus far, neither of these rule changes has been extended past this upcoming season.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona crossed the 63,000 threshold as of Thursday, June 25, after the state reported 3,056 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had seen 6,546 of the state's 63,033 confirmed cases.
Cases in Arizona have more than tripled since June 1, when the state had 20,123 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,490 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 37,135.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,453 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A daily total of 1,161 people arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 24. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds rose to 611 yesterday.
If you're out in public in Pima County, you're now expected to wear masks or face coverings if you're older than 5. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines to require face masks on Friday, June 19. Likewise, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero issued a proclamation last week that requires face masks and includes a $50 penalty for those who don't mask up, although she said authorities would first try to educate those who don't wear masks and would resort to fines only for report offenders. There are exceptions for those who can't wear a mask for medical reasons.
• Gov. Doug Ducey and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman yesterday announced new funding for Arizona schools to support the reopening of schools in August. Ducey resolved a major challenge that schools were facing: Funding is based on how many students physically attend schools and with some families turning to online learning to avoid infection in the classroom, those numbers are likely to fall. Ducey, rather than call a special session of lawmakers to change the law, instead issued an executive order providing $200 million to Arizona schools to prevent the funding cuts and support remote learning.
The package also includes $40 million to improve broadband lines in rural Arizona, where internet connections can be spotty; $20 million for high-need schools; $6 million for the Arizona Teacher Academy to help with a teacher shortage; $1 million in micro-grants for innovative learning programs; $1 million to purchase vehicles for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind; $700 for leadership development; and $500,000 for tutoring programs.
The Arizona Department of Education is providing an additional $25 million from the federal CARES Act for additional assistance to schools.
Pima County had seen 6,546 of the state's 63,033 confirmed cases.
Cases in Arizona have more than tripled since June 1, when the state had 20,123 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,490 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 37,135.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,453 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A daily total of 1,161 people arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 24. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds rose to 611 yesterday.
If you're out in public in Pima County, you're now expected to wear masks or face coverings if you're older than 5. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines to require face masks on Friday, June 19. Likewise, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero issued a proclamation last week that requires face masks and includes a $50 penalty for those who don't mask up, although she said authorities would first try to educate those who don't wear masks and would resort to fines only for report offenders. There are exceptions for those who can't wear a mask for medical reasons.
• Gov. Doug Ducey and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman yesterday announced new funding for Arizona schools to support the reopening of schools in August. Ducey resolved a major challenge that schools were facing: Funding is based on how many students physically attend schools and with some families turning to online learning to avoid infection in the classroom, those numbers are likely to fall. Ducey, rather than call a special session of lawmakers to change the law, instead issued an executive order providing $200 million to Arizona schools to prevent the funding cuts and support remote learning.
The package also includes $40 million to improve broadband lines in rural Arizona, where internet connections can be spotty; $20 million for high-need schools; $6 million for the Arizona Teacher Academy to help with a teacher shortage; $1 million in micro-grants for innovative learning programs; $1 million to purchase vehicles for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind; $700 for leadership development; and $500,000 for tutoring programs.
The Arizona Department of Education is providing an additional $25 million from the federal CARES Act for additional assistance to schools.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
It's the middle of the week, and we have a lot to cover! ICYMI, here are the stories we shared with you.
Vote Now in Best of Tucson® 2020: The Lost Treasures!
Vote Now in Best of Tucson® 2020: The Lost Treasures!
- The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona jumped to just shy of 60,000 as of Wednesday, June 24, after the state reported 1,795 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
- President Donald Trump toured a newly finished section of border wall Tuesday in Yuma, crediting it not only for a reduction in border crossings and drugs but claiming it has helped prevent “a coronavirus catastrophe” on the southern border.
- The recent protests sparked by the death of George Floyd (as well as Breonna Taylor and many other people of color) have affected families with young children in many different ways.
- The 75,000-acre Bighorn Fire is now burning on several fronts throughout the Catalina Mountains after being fanned by gusty weather and has even stretched across the Pinal County line to the north.
- Donald Trump is famous — and infamous — for his use of Twitter and Facebook. But particularly since the pandemic forced him to largely swear off his favorite mass, in-person rallies, his campaign has been amping up the use of another form of alternative media: YouTube and podcasts.
- President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday suspending H-1B, L-1, J and other temporary work visas until the end of the year, while also extending the hold on green cards for new immigrants.
- As President Donald Trump was hailing the pace of border wall construction Tuesday, Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris Jr. was bemoaning it as a project that continues “to destroy … sacred sites.”
- Tucson’s Reid Park Zoo said “goodbye” to one of its animals Wednesday when the organization announced the passing of Shombay the African lion. Shombay lived to 12 and was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease in 2016.
- Carlos Adrian Ingram-Lopez died after Tucson police detained him on April 21, 2020. He was 27 years old.
- Tucson Police Chief Chris Magnus offered his resignation to Mayor Regina Romero over how TPD officers handled the in-custody death of Carlos Ingram-Lopez last April during today's press conference regarding the incident.
PHOENIX – President Donald Trump toured a newly finished section of border wall Tuesday in Yuma, crediting it not only for a reduction in border crossings and drugs but claiming it has helped prevent “a coronavirus catastrophe” on the southern border.
Trump, trailing a number of Republican elected officials, was in Arizona to mark the completion of the first 200 miles of the border wall that was a centerpiece of his 2016 campaign, and followed the Yuma event with a campaign-like speech in Phoenix.
“During the past two months, we’ve seen the lowest number of illegal border crossings in many years,” Trump said in Yuma. “Illegal immigration is down 84 percent from this time last year. Illegal crossings from Central America are down 97 percent.”
But Democrats were quick to criticize the visits on a day when Arizona set another record for new COVID-19 cases, adding 3,591 new cases and 42 deaths in one day.
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, said that instead of his “little pep rally,” Trump should be spending his time on the coronavirus and the health and economic problems it has caused.
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona jumped to just shy of 60,000 as of Wednesday, June 24, after the state reported 1,795 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had 6,318 of the state's 59,974 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,463 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County. Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 34,992.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,270 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A daily total of 1,212 arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 23. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds dropped to 581 yesterday.
If you're out in public in Pima County, you're now expected to wear masks or face coverings if you're older than 5. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines to require face masks on Friday, June 19.
Likewise, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero issued a proclamation that requires face masks and includes a $50 penalty for those who don't mask up, although she said authorities would first try to educate those who don't wear masks and would resort to fines only for report offenders. There are exceptions for those who can't wear a mask for medical reasons.
In other coronavirus news:
• Before visiting Arizona yesterday to tour a border wall project in Yuma and hold a rally before a largely mask-less crowd on several thousand people in a megachurch, President Donald Trump told reporters he was not kidding about his desire to see fewer COVID-19 tests as the climbing numbers looked bad.
Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ03 was critical of Trump's comments.
“Trump’s admission of his effort to slow testing in this country is a shocking low—even for him—and a recipe for disaster for states like Arizona where new cases are now skyrocketing," Grijalva said in a prepared statement. "But this is unsurprising from a President who refused to heed the advice of intelligence experts and public health officials during the early days of the virus for fear of upsetting his poll numbers. Now, Trump is trying to erase his failures by pretending that COVID-19 doesn’t exist while endangering even more lives across the country."
Grijalva said the nation needed more testing, not less.
“If we ever want to get back to a semblance of normalcy, we must get a grip on this virus, and more testing and contact tracing is how we do it," he said. "To say otherwise not only shows ignorance, but shows a complete disregard for human life and an utter disrespect for the people who have lost their lives."
• As the number of cases spread, some local restaurants, such DOWNTOWN Kitchen and Cocktails, BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs, Fire N' Smoke and Little Anthony's Diner, are closing their dining rooms and returning to takeout service.
Pima County had 6,318 of the state's 59,974 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,463 people have died after contracting the virus, including 255 in Pima County. Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 34,992.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,270 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1.
A daily total of 1,212 arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 23. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667.
The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds dropped to 581 yesterday.
If you're out in public in Pima County, you're now expected to wear masks or face coverings if you're older than 5. The Pima County Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 along party lines to require face masks on Friday, June 19.
Likewise, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero issued a proclamation that requires face masks and includes a $50 penalty for those who don't mask up, although she said authorities would first try to educate those who don't wear masks and would resort to fines only for report offenders. There are exceptions for those who can't wear a mask for medical reasons.
In other coronavirus news:
• Before visiting Arizona yesterday to tour a border wall project in Yuma and hold a rally before a largely mask-less crowd on several thousand people in a megachurch, President Donald Trump told reporters he was not kidding about his desire to see fewer COVID-19 tests as the climbing numbers looked bad.
Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ03 was critical of Trump's comments.
“Trump’s admission of his effort to slow testing in this country is a shocking low—even for him—and a recipe for disaster for states like Arizona where new cases are now skyrocketing," Grijalva said in a prepared statement. "But this is unsurprising from a President who refused to heed the advice of intelligence experts and public health officials during the early days of the virus for fear of upsetting his poll numbers. Now, Trump is trying to erase his failures by pretending that COVID-19 doesn’t exist while endangering even more lives across the country."
Grijalva said the nation needed more testing, not less.
“If we ever want to get back to a semblance of normalcy, we must get a grip on this virus, and more testing and contact tracing is how we do it," he said. "To say otherwise not only shows ignorance, but shows a complete disregard for human life and an utter disrespect for the people who have lost their lives."
• As the number of cases spread, some local restaurants, such DOWNTOWN Kitchen and Cocktails, BK Carne Asada and Hot Dogs, Fire N' Smoke and Little Anthony's Diner, are closing their dining rooms and returning to takeout service.
Tuesday, June 23, 2020
During today’s budget meeting, the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted to allocate more than $380,000 to tourism-related agencies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic impacts.
Nine nonprofit organizations will receive funds from the county to promote events and programs that could provide local economic development and improve tourism, according to a press release.
The recipients are the Ajo District Chamber of Commerce, Arts Foundation for Tucson & Southern Arizona, International Sonoran Desert Alliance, Portable Practical Educational Preparation, Southwest Folklife Alliance, Children’s Museum of Tucson, Perimeter Bicycling, Tucson Botanical Gardens and the Tucson Presidio for Historic Preservation.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attractions are open with limited capacity and events altered to accommodate physical distancing,” said Diane Frisch, the county’s Attractions and Tourism Director. “These nonprofits need our assistance now more than ever as we navigate these unprecedented times.”
While this money will provide new opportunities for tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic is still a relevant factor that could interrupt future plans. If any events funded through the county and produced by these groups are canceled due to risks from the virus, the money will simply carry over to the following year.
The Attractions and Tourism department manages the county’s partnership with outside tourism and cultural organizations in an effort to coordinate the efforts between government and these community groups.
The department’s Outside Agency Citizen Review Committee considered each application and recommended where funding should be allocated.
For more information, visit the Attractions & Tourism website.
Tags: Pima County , Attractions & Tourism , Funding , COVID19 , Coronavirus , Image
The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona jumped over 58,000 as of Tuesday, June 23, after the state reported 3,591 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County had 6,089 of the state's 58,179 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,384 people have died after contracting the virus, including 247 in Pima County.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 33,883.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,136 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1. A daily total of 1,228 arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 22. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667. The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds hit a new record of 614 yesterday.
Pima County had 6,089 of the state's 58,179 confirmed cases.
A total of 1,384 people have died after contracting the virus, including 247 in Pima County.
Maricopa County has more than half the state's cases, with the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hitting 33,883.
Arizona hospitals continue to see a steady rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. This morning's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that as of yesterday, a record 2,136 Arizonans were hospitalized, more than double the 1,009 hospitalized on June 1. A daily total of 1,228 arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 22. Previous to June, the number of people seeking help in emergency rooms never topped 667. The number of COVID-19 patients in ICU beds hit a new record of 614 yesterday.
