Leigh Moyer is an organizer with the #Fight4HER. The Tucson Weekly welcomes guest commentaries. Send yours to [email protected].

On Donald Trump’s first day in office he signed his Global Gag Rule, an executive order that restricts international health care providers that receives U.S. aid from simply mentioning abortion services. We’re several years and a pandemic away from Trump’s first day in office, so why does this matter right now?

Because people don’t stop needing reproductive health care services amidst a pandemic, and Trump’s Global Gag Rule has already made these services, amongst others, near-impossible to access in communities around the world. As reproductive health services are scaled back to focus on responding to COVID-19, people around the world are forced to forgo health care.

The World Health Organization lists abortion as an essential service; the last time I checked, you can’t pause a pregnancy until a pandemic passes.

Trump’s Global Gag Rule doesn’t just impact reproductive health care services, but all health services. This is because programs and clinics in countries around the world have lost millions of dollars in USAID, leading to staffing cutbacks and clinic closures. These clinics are often the only trusted health care providers in the communities they serve. By forcing these clinics to close, Trump’s Global Gag Rule limits interventions to stop the spread of coronavirus in vulnerable communities around the world. During a health care crisis, do we want leaders who are cutting funding and access to health care?

No. I am ashamed that Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) has failed to co-sponsor the Global Health, Empowerment and Rights (HER) Act to permanently repeal the Global Gag Rule and safeguard the right to reproductive health access around the world.

I’m a young woman with a woman senator who doesn’t respect or stand up for my health care rights.

Are you an FC Tucson fan? Do you want to give blood and potentially save a life? Do you like signed memorabilia? Well, you’re in luck: FC Tucson is partnering with the American Red Cross next Wednesday, May 13, to host a blood drive.

From 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Tucsonans are invited to the Food City parking lot located at 2950 S. Sixth Ave. to donate. To sign up, go to this website and use the code FC Tucson. Donors must register to participate.

The Red Cross will only collect blood from individuals “who are healthy and feeling well at the time of donation.” At the drive, Red Cross employees will follow thorough safety procedures, including checking temperatures, wearing gloves and PPE, wiping down donor areas after every collection, and using sterile collection materials for each donor.

FC Tucson staff and players will be on hand signing posters and bandanas as a thank you.

Retail and cosmetology shops are officially allowed to reopen to the public today under Gov. Doug Ducey’s modified stay-at-home order, but many owners around Historic Fourth Avenue are opting to stay closed until COVID case numbers decrease in Pima County.

Under the state’s new reopening guidance, retail businesses will need to limit their occupancy based on size, screen employees for COVID symptoms before they start their shift, and close fitting rooms, meeting rooms and any other enclosed space customers may encounter.

“We still think it’s a little premature to be opening. All the numbers are still high,” said Pop-Cycle Co-Owner DeeDee Koenen. “It doesn’t feel like it’s a good time for us to reopen like that, so we’re going to stay closed to the public.”

Koenen said the store has moved to online sales since the pandemic hit. The shop, which sells the kitschy wares of local artists, has always had an online presence but was never as populated with their one-of-a-kind products as it is today, Koenen said. She would like to see the local COVID case number decrease before reopening her shop to public perusal.

“We’re going to continue to sell online and we’ll have curbside pickup, mail or delivery options available,” Koenen said. “ On (May) 15, we’ll come back together and reevaluate how we’re feeling. We may implement a by-appointment-only policy at that time and we’ll do another check around June 1.”

Silver Sea Jewelry Owner Lizzie Mead isn’t even considering reopening to the public until at least June 1, she said. While she is still selling her goods online, Mead moved the majority of her products out of her shop at the start of the shutdown after security camera footage showed someone casing the joint for a potential robbery. She is trying to avoid the hassle of moving inventory back and forth to the shop, should the virus continue to spread and the economy is shut down once again.

“I can’t move back in and move out again. That’s what makes it super weird for me,” Mead said. “It took me a full week to prepare everything and move it. Everything is off the displays and such. I think it would take me a week to prep the store and get it open again. ”

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona topped 10,500 of Thursday, May 8, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County had 1,520 of the state’s 10,526 confirmed cases.

The coronavirus had killed 517 people statewide, a jump of 67 from yesterday’s toll. A total of 131 people had died in Pima County, a jump of 13 from yesterday, according to the report.

In Maricopa County, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases had risen to 5,525.

Because symptoms can take as long as two weeks to appear after exposure to the virus (while some people can remain entirely asymptomatic), health officials continue to urge the public to avoid unnecessary trips and gatherings of more than 10 people and have advised people to cover their faces with masks in public.

Arizona remains under a stay-at-home order through May 15, but Gov. Doug Ducey has modified his emergency declaration. Stores can now allow customers back inside today and barbers and beauty salons are back in business, while restaurants can begin serving customers next week. Ducey has set up various new regulations, including requirements to wear masks and a heightened cleaning regimen.

People are still advised to limit contact and businesses such as gyms, movie theaters and bars must remain closed, but Ducey said he wanted the state’s economy to gradually reopen.

“These habits we've acquired over the last 45 days will not be with us forever, but they will be with us for the time being,” Ducey said last week.

But some members of the medical community said Ducey’s move may have come soon and will result in greater spread of the virus. State Rep. Randy Friese, an emergency room doctor, warned this week that by relaxing so many standards so quickly, Ducey was risking losing all the progress that state has made in stemming the disease.

Dr. Bob England, the outgoing director of the Pima County Health Department, said this week that the true results wouldn’t be known for weeks as test results tend to lag behind the actual spread of the virus.

“It will take a few weeks to know the impact of this so we won’t know until early June what all of this is doing to the epidemic curve,” England said in a daily briefing.

England urged people to continue social distancing and wear masks and said older people and those with underlying health conditions should remain at home as much as possible.

Congressman Raul Grijalva said today that it was too soon to open because the state has not done enough testing.

“All of us are eager to return to some semblance of normality, but this decision cannot be made in haste,” Grijalva said in a prepared statement to the press. “Prematurely reopening the state not only risks losing more of our loved ones, but also further crippling our local communities by deepening the spread of a virus that has already taken far too great of a toll. I am deeply concerned that the state is continuing a push to reopen while the number of new cases has risen over the past 14 days and Arizona is last in the nation in testing per capita.”

As Gov. Doug Ducey moves forward with plans to allow retail stores, barber shops and salons to reopen today, Congressman Raul Grijalva has issued a statement saying it's too soon:

All of us are eager to return to some semblance of normality, but this decision cannot be made in haste. Prematurely reopening the state not only risks losing more of our loved ones, but also further crippling our local communities by deepening the spread of a virus that has already taken far too great of a toll.

I am deeply concerned that the state is continuing a push to reopen while the number of new cases has risen over the past 14 days and Arizona is last in the nation in testing per capita. We simply do not have enough testing to ascertain the risk of reopening and adding concern is a recent decision by Governor Ducey to sideline advice and ‘pause’ the work of public health statisticians and experts.

These are not decisions to be taken lightly. We all want our businesses to reopen and we all want everyone to safely return to work. The last thing we want is businesses to open prematurely, our loved ones to die alone in the hospital, and for Republicans in Congress to deny more aid to businesses because they had their "doors open." To take heed to President Trump for political reasons will endanger Arizonans.

Instead, our Governor should be urging this administration to work where it has failed. They must ensure states have testing materials and the ability to swiftly trace and isolate cases. We can get there, but if we make the wrong decisions now, it will cost more lives and prolong the economic misery. We can’t afford to get this wrong.

I will continue working in Congress to expand relief programs for our workers, small businesses, and those who have gone without; ensure that smaller cities and rural areas have access to relief; and demand hazard pay and better workplace protections for our essential workers who have kept our economy afloat during this unprecedented time.

And that's another Thursday in the books! Here's a look at what we covered today.

• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona closed in on the 10,000 mark as of Thursday, May 7, according to the morning report from the Arizona Department of Health Services.
• May is National Mental Health Awareness Month, and also the month that Arizonans are beginning to dip our toes into the new normal of everyday life as Stay-At-Home orders are lifted.
• Tucson’s downtown restaurant community teaming up to feed unemployed service industry workers, along with those in need, six-nights-a-week during the pandemic.
• There's one other tried and true way to spend your time that some people have been using with or without a pandemic, and that's video games. It's fun, it's interactive, and at times the storyline or interactions with friends can be really fulfilling. Unfortunately, it's also becoming really expensive.
• A three-year-old child died on Tuesday from an apparent accidental and self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Tucson police.
• Trico Electric Cooperative customers facing financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic can now look to the power company for assistance in paying their bill after the creation of the COVID-19 Assistance Program.
• The Arizona Department of Health says it's back in business with the ASU-UA modeling team that was developing projections of the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona.
• Technology currently being designed in Tucson may soon help the US send astronauts to the moon for the first time in 50 years.
• Counties throughout Arizona aren’t receiving enough COVID-19 tests to keep up with Gov. Doug Ducey’s recently announced “testing blitz,” according to a memo from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.
• The Pima Animal Care Center and Friends of PACC have $15,000 in the bank to help cover veterinary expenses for those who qualify for aid after a donation from the Banfield and South Fork foundations.
• When was the last time you attended a concert? Unless you live near a musician gracious enough to share their talent with the neighborhood, it’s been a while.
• Oro Valley’s premier arts event is on hiatus this year after the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance canceled the Spring Festival of the Arts, which was scheduled for May 16 and 17 at the Oro Valley Marketplace.
• The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything from how most Americans work and shop to how they socialize – even if they can be in the same room.

PHOENIX – The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything from how most Americans work and shop to how they socialize – even if they can be in the same room.

For Maria Leon Peña, it could change her chances of staying in this country.

The Phoenix nursing assistant is one of an estimated 29,000 health care workers in the U.S. who are undocumented, according to a recent report, but have remained in this country under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program. A program that the Trump administration is trying to abolish.

Those health care workers, along with the thousands of other DACA recipients working in essential services, were cited last month in an unusual “after arguments” brief to the Supreme Court, which heard the DACA case in November – before anyone had heard of COVID-19.

“It (COVID-19) throws into sharp relief DACA recipients’ important contributions to the country and the significant adverse consequences of eliminating their ability to live and work without fear of imminent deportation,” said the brief from the National Immigration Law Center.

The court is expected to rule by this summer on whether the Trump administration acted properly when it announced in 2017 that it was ending DACA, an Obama-era program that deferred deportation as many as 800,000 immigrants who had brought to this country illegally as children. Almost 650,000 remained at the end of last year.

People like Leon Peña.

“It’s been a roller coaster because we don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.

Oro Valley’s premier arts event is on hiatus this year after the Southern Arizona Arts and Cultural Alliance canceled the Spring Festival of the Arts, which was scheduled for May 16 and 17 at the Oro Valley Marketplace.

According to the nonprofit, the decision was made based on information from the Pima County Health Department, the Arizona Department of Health Services, and the Centers for Disease Control.

“Considering recent developments in Arizona and the Governor’s proclamation of extending the Stay at Home Order until May 15, and with the extension lasting indefinitely through the end of May for large gatherings of 10 or more in outdoor venues, it is with deep regret that SAACA must cancel the event,” the company wrote in its May 5 announcement.

The Pima Animal Care Center and Friends of PACC have $15,000 in the bank to help cover veterinary expenses for those who qualify for aid after a donation from the Banfield and South Fork foundations.

Pets living in a home facing financial hardship will benefit from the funding through the shelters assistance program.

“PACC now has an opportunity to help people and pets impacted by COVID,” said director Kristen Hassen. “We are here to help pets owned by people who have gotten sick or faced financial distress in this unprecedented event.”

Funding will provide aid for those facing hardship due to illness, job loss, financial insecurity or any other challenge related to COVID-19. Referrals for aid are made through the shelter’s partner groups, and PACC hopes to expand its pilot program as more funding becomes available.

During the pandemic, PACC is only allowing residents to enter the shelter by appointment. For more information, visit pima.gov/animalcare.

Counties throughout Arizona aren’t receiving enough COVID-19 tests to keep up with Gov. Doug Ducey’s recently announced “testing blitz,” according to a memo from Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry.

Written to the Pima County Board of Supervisors, Huckelberry’s memo states that Arizona has tapped Banner University Medical and Walgreens to conduct the tests at the Banner North Hills Facility on Ina Road and the Walgreens at Broadway Boulevard and Houghton Road.

According to Huckelberry, Banner leadership said the North Hills facility can only conduct up to 300 tests in a single day, a far lesser number than what would reasonably contribute to the statewide goal estimated by the governor. Huckelberry said the county has “no idea how the volume of testing desired will be accomplished at these two facilities” and that only 588 tests were administered last Saturday.