Thursday, April 29, 2021
University of Arizona faculty and students will provide up to 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines on Saturday.
The vaccination event, open to the public, will be led by Kristie Hoch, a member of the American Association of Nurse Anesthetists, volunteer Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists and student registered nurse anesthetists at the university.
The event offers only the Pfizer vaccine and no appointment is needed. It will be held from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday at the Ina E. Gittings Building, Room 129.
For Hoch, the event not only serves the community, but also honors the memory of her family members who passed away due to COVID-19.
“My father-in-law and brother-in-law both passed away due to COVID-19 at the beginning of this year. To me, playing a role in the vaccine rollout is my way of honoring their memory and ensuring others do not suffer their fate,” said Hoch. “It’s heartwarming to see my students joining the effort. As ICU practicing nurses, they’ve seen the effects of COVID from the frontlines, and share my passion for putting an end to the pandemic."
In a statement released Wednesday, Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-Tucson, District 3) said she tested positive for the virus COVID-19, despite being vaccinated.
“I have taken COVID-19 very seriously and have worn my mask, washed my hands, socially distanced. Yet despite those measures and being vaccinated I have come down with the COVID,” she said. “I encourage all to take this seriously and continue practicing COVID protocols. Be courteous to your colleagues and loved ones who are more susceptible. The pandemic has not come to an end. Be safe, take care, do not let your guard down even after you have been vaccinated.”
Hernandez tweeted that she tested positive 11 weeks after being fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine. She said she had a severe migraine, fever, cannot taste or smell and “[felt] terrible right now.”
She emphasized that as a health professional she is encouraging people to still get vaccinated.
“If you have not already done so, please do so as soon as possible. This is just to let you know that just because you got vaccinated does not mean you are immune to contracting COVID. I happen to be one of the few who still got it. Hopefully, my symptoms don’t worsen; however, I am very fortunate to have been vaccinated.”
Hernandez said she will be in quarantine until Wednesday.
Her case is not the first in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Health Services has 947 similar cases across the 15 counties with no deaths, said ADHS Communications Director Steve Elliott.
70% of patients were symptomatic and 16% were hospitalized, said Elliott. They were able to get information for about half of the cases. He also noted that the increase from previous reports “has more to do with classification of cases since vaccinations began than a spike in recent weeks.”
As of Thursday, the state has fully vaccinated 2,241,092 people, "breakthrough" cases account for 0.04% of fully vaccinated individuals.
Breakthrough cases are expected, as “no vaccines are 100% effective at preventing illness,” according to the CDC
As of April 20, the CDC reported 7,157 breakthrough infections in the U.S. with more than 87 million people fully vaccinated nationwide. Of those reported cases, 64 % were female and almost half were people 60 or older. Further, only about 7% of the breakthrough infections resulted in hospitalization and 1% led to death. On Wednesday, the CDC presented data that showed fully vaccinated adults, age 65 and older are 94% less likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective and are a critical tool to bring the pandemic under control,” said Elliott. “All of the available COVID-19 vaccines are effective at preventing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths. As a result, symptomatic vaccine breakthrough cases will tend to be less severe than infections in people who are not vaccinated. Asymptomatic infections among vaccinated people also will occur.”
The Pima County Health Department is seeking young adults to encourage vaccination amongst youth through a video challenge.
“We have come so far in our battle against COVID-19,” said Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County Health Department director. “We are excited and eager to engage with and vaccinate young adults to continue our march to herd immunity and get back to the things we love in life. We know that peer influence is significant for this age group and the #VaxTruthChallenge encourages people to share their experiences.”
As part of the VaxTruthChallenge contest, residents no older than 24 years old must create a video addressing any of the following questions:
- • What’s the truth about COVID-19 and getting the vaccine?
- • Set the record straight – say no to misinformation!
- • Why does it matter?
- • What do people need to know so they can get their shot?
Participants have the chance to win the grand prize of either a Nintendo Switch, Chromebook or an approved prize of choice valued at up to $350, while the runner-up would win a choice of AirPods, Fitbit or an approved prize of choice up to $150 in value.
The video entries must be shared on Tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube, using the use the hashtag #VaxTruthChallenge in the video description. The videos can be in any language spoken by communities in Pima County, including English, Spanish, O’odham and Yaqui/Yoeme.
Winners must be younger than 24 years old at the time of submission and must agree to allow Pima County to use their video on other outlets. The deadline to enter is May 17, 2021. For more information visit VaxChallenge.com.
Wednesday, April 28, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control announced Tuesday that people who are vaccinated do not need to wear masks outside unless they are in thick crowds.
The new recommendations say it’s safe to not wear a mask when you go out for a walk, run or bike outdoors with members of your household; attend a small outdoor gathering with vaccinated family and friends; and dine at outdoor restaurants with friends from multiple households. However, if you attend a crowded outdoor sports event, a concert or a similar outing, masks are still recommended. See more details here.
Vaccine walk-ins welcome; appointments available
You no longer need an appointment to get a shot at the UA vaccination point of distribution. The POD will now accept anyone over the age of 16 who comes in for a shot.
The pod, which offers both a drive-thru clinic on the UA Mall and a sit-down clinic in the Ina E. Gittings Building (1737 E. University Blvd.), is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
If you’d rather schedule an appointment, the state is expected to open new first-dose appointments daily at podvaccine.azdhs.gov. Call 602-542-1000 or 844-542-8201 for help in English or Spanish.
Because of rising temperatures, the drive-thru clinic will close on May 3.
If you need help, call the COVID Ambassador Team hotline at 520-848-4045 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily or email [email protected].
Meanwhile, Pima County officials are shifting to indoor vaccination sites to avoid making staff and volunteers endure long days in triple-degree temperatures.
Tucson Medical Center has shut down its drive-thru vaccination clinics and transferred its operations to the Udall Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. The site is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Register at https://vaccine.tmcaz.com/MyChart/OpenScheduling.
Pima County has opened a new indoor vaccine site at the Kino Event Center, where the county had earlier been doing COVID testing. That site is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Register at azdhs.gov.
The county has also opened an indoor vaccination POD at El Pueblo Center, 101 W. Irvington Road, which is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary.
The drive-through POD at Banner-South Kino Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, is now offering appointments between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and will close permanently on May 14.
As of Tuesday, April 27, 395,301 people in Pima County had received at least one shot of the virus, accounting for 37.8% of the population. A total of 308,465 people are fully vaccinated.
For more information or additional mobile clinics, visit pima.gov/covid19vaccineregistration or call 520-222-0119.
Many local pharmacies are now receiving vaccine doses. To find one near you, visit the ADHS website.
Get tested: Pima County has free COVID testing
Pima County is continuing to offer a number of testing centers and pop-up testing sites around town, including the northside Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road. Schedule an appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.
The University of Arizona’s antibody testing can determine if you have had COVID and now have antibodies. To sign up for testing, visit https://covid19antibodytesting.arizona.edu/home.
Today’s numbers
With 603 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases continued to climb as of Wednesday, April 28, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 35 new cases today, has seen 114,991 of the state’s 860,772 confirmed cases.
With 6 new deaths reported this morning, a total of 17,282 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 2,389 deaths in Pima County, according to the April 28 report.
A total of 622 coronavirus patients were in the hospital as of April 27. That’s roughly 12% of the number hospitalized at the peak of the winter surge, which reached 5,082 on Jan. 12. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 1,043 people visited emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on April 27. That number represents 44.5% of the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
A total of 190 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on April 27, which roughly 16% of the record 1,183 ICU patients set on Jan. 11. The summer’s record number of patients in ICU beds was 970, set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent low was 114 on Sept. 22, 2020.
—with additional reporting from Austin Counts, Christina Duran, Jeff Gardner and Mike Truelsen
WASHINGTON – Arizona lawmakers, who began the year with one of the highest number of voting restriction bills in the nation, are winding down a legislative session in which it appears only a few of those bills will survive.
But that doesn’t mean voting rights activists are happy.
Ryan Snow, associate counsel for the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, called it a “death by a million cuts.”
“Officials … have taken to erecting a litany of barriers that any one of which might sound on its face that it’s not that big of a deal,” Snow said. “But when you take them together, it creates a restrictive process that disproportionately affects voters of color, low-wealth voters, young voters and other politically disabled voters.”
Supporters of the bills disagree and say that the state – coming off the divisive 2020 election and in the midst of a contentious audit of Maricopa County’s returns – needs to restore faith in the election process and “ensure Arizona’s elections are fair and transparent.”
“In order to maintain voter trust in our elections, it is important to provide the necessary safeguards so that voters can be confident in casting their ballots,” said Noah Weinrich, press secretary for Heritage Action, in an emailed statement.
Arizona Republican lawmakers introduced the third-highest number of voting restriction bills this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University, which said the state’s 23 bills trailed only Texas, with 49, and Georgia, with 25. Nationwide, 361 such bills were introduced, it said.
The Brennan Center report also said Arizona lawmakers introduced 15 bills to expand voting access through such measures as automatic and same-day voter registration, restoring voting rights for felons and more. All of those bills were introduced by Democrats, and all have already been shot down.
Tuesday, April 27, 2021
The Arizona Department of Health Services yesterday recommended resuming the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after the CDC and FDA safety review Sunday.
On Friday, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted to recommend the J&J vaccine, but members wanted clear messaging about the possible risks for women younger than 50 years old.
On April 13, the CDC and FDA recommended pausing the vaccine after six reported cases of a rare adverse event among women developed blood clotting with low blood platelets after receiving J&J. The CDC determined the event is rare, occurring at a rate of 7 per 1 million vaccinated women between the age of 18 to 49.
“After recommending a pause out of an abundance of caution, we join our federal partners in encouraging everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 with the vaccine available to you,” ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ said. “Arizonans can be confident that all COVID-19 vaccines approved for emergency use, including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, have undergone a thorough review for safety and efficacy. The federal review will continue on all of the vaccines as more people are vaccinated.”
Arizona has allocated 226,300 vaccine doses of J&J and administered approximately 122,000. Local health departments paused the use of the J&J vaccine, which was being used in hard-to-reach communities. Pima County had allocated the use of J&J for their mobile clinics, targeting minority and vulnerable communities.
The Pima County Health Department will resume the use of J&J along with “any approved vaccine at our disposal,” said Health Department spokesman Aaron Pacheco.
The county will continue to offer the vaccine at mobile sites, but as supply increases would also offer it at larger locations that have requested it, including TMC One, “so it is no longer being specifically targeted for only mobile events or hard to reach populations,” Pacheco said.
As health departments grapple with the vaccine hesitancy, especially after the pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, Pacheco said the county looks to address “the risk vs. benefit reality of the vaccine.”
“Every medical treatment or procedure has a measurement of risk. In this case, that risk is incredibly low, while the benefit and efficacy of the vaccine is incredibly high. It is also important to share that the system in place to identify and respond to potential risks is strong. That is why this issue was identified so quickly,” Pacheco said.
The county is sharing the FDA Fact Sheet, with updated information addressing the concerns that led to the pause. The county has about 12,600 J&J vaccine doses as of Monday.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the former U.S. surgeon general and UA Task Force director, said it remains unclear whether the blood clotting is directly related to the vaccine “but the benefit of this vaccine is enough that we all agreed that it should go back to market.”
“We need to get this vaccine back out there because it is a very effective vaccine,” said Carmona.
However, vaccine demand has stalled nationwide and in the state with tens of thousands of appointments available at state vaccination sites last week.
“As a number of daily vaccinations at large PODs, like the one at the university, decline and as the PODs are being decommissioned, outreach to rural and other underserved communities is going to become even more important,” said UA President Robert C. Robbins.
He points to the work of the Mobile Health Program at the university, which has dispensed more than 10,000 doses of vaccine across the state. Robbins announced the university is working with the Santa Cruz County Health Department and the Mexican Consulate of Nogales to host a clinic on April 28 that will vaccinate about 150 truck drivers who transport produce and other goods in Arizona and across the nation.
COVID numbers continue on plateau
Dr. Joe Gerald, an epidemiologist and professor who has been following the spread of the coronavirus for more than a year, said the state had seen slight increases in the number of positive COVID tests over the last four week, reversing a steady decline since January.
In the week ending April 18, 5,014 people tested positive for COVID, a 6% increase from the previous week.
“Arizona cases remain ‘stuck’ at just about the threshold differentiating substantial and moderate risk owing to more transmissible variants and normalization of business and social activities,” Gerard wrote in a weekend report that noted that new cases are being diagnosed at a rate of 70 per 100,000 residents. During the week ending March 23, the rate had dropped to 53 cases per 100,000 residents, with the rate slowly but surely increasing since then.
Dr. Richard Carmona, the former surgeon general, told reporters yesterday that vaccinations not only protect those who have been vaccinated, but the shot also slows transmission in the community, which is especially important because of developing variants.
“Not only to protect yourself, but to protect the nation and the world, get a vaccine because if we can prevent that virus from getting into another body where it might make a mutation—that becomes consequential, then we have problems. So get your vaccines as quickly as possible,” said Carmona.
Preliminary results from the University of Arizona student survey show that almost half of the students who responded have been vaccinated.
The survey sent out on April 15 asked students about their vaccine participation and barriers they may face in getting vaccinated. As of Monday, more than 5,000 students have responded to the survey, with about half saying they received the first dose, said Vice President of Communications Holly Jensen. Students still have time to submit responses to the survey.
“There is clearly going to be a subset, just like there is in society at large for medical reasons, valid medical reasons, aren't going to take the vaccine, and for a variety of other reasons, but we think that number is going to be quite low compared to the general population,” said Robbins.
Vaccine efforts continue
As the county continues its mobile vaccination effort to deliver shots to those vulnerable or minority communities, Pima County Medical Director Francisco Garcia said the county is planning efforts to address vaccine hesitancy.
“We cannot underestimate the impact that the J&J and the federal action to take J&J temporarily off the table has had on vaccine demand,” said Garcia. “Remember that J&J was actually, probably, the most commonly requested, that was actually kind of the only brand that was being requested when we were doing our vaccination PODs.”
With both Pfizer and Moderna, Garcia said the challenge was making sure people got the second dose and committing the mobile clinic to return to the same location. He said the strategy continues to evolve, but they are making sure that when people vaccinated at a mobile site, “they understand that they need a second shot, and that they understand where to go for that second shot, because in some cases we will not be able to be back in exactly that same neighborhood exactly four weeks down the road in order to vaccinate.”
The county has not administered Pfizer at a mobile clinic because it requires ultra cold chain handling and it comes in multi-use vials with several doses. Garcia said Pfizer would pose the issue of “vaccine wastage.”
“You can imagine that as demand slackens, what happens when you've popped open a vial of Pfizer with 14 doses, but you only have 10 people?” asked Garcia. “We are still feeling that need to be as careful with that resource, but by the same token, not missing the opportunity to pivot. If somebody shows up not missing that opportunity to vaccinate that individual.”
“We know that a lot of people are not actually truly resistant, but are just hesitant. They're waiting to see how the dust settles,” said Garcia. “We're hoping to make vaccine opportunities so ubiquitous throughout our community, whether it's on Fourth Avenue, whether it's in some of these parts, whether it's at a fixed site. We're trying to make it so damn ubiquitous, that essentially you fall into a vaccination needle without much effort. If we can decrease those barriers for those folks for whom these are obstacles. I believe that we will continue to make progress.”
Vaccine walk-ins welcome; appointments available
You no longer need an appointment to get a shot at the UA vaccination point of distribution. The POD will now accept anyone over the age of 16 who comes in for a shot.
The pod, which offers both a drive-thru clinic on the UA Mall and a sit-down clinic in the Ina E. Gittings Building (1737 E. University Blvd.), is open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
If you’d rather schedule an appointment, the state is expected to open new first-dose appointments daily at podvaccine.azdhs.gov. Call 602-542-1000 or 844-542-8201 for help in English or Spanish.
Because of rising temperatures, the drive-thru clinic will close on May 3.
If you need help, call the COVID Ambassador Team hotline at 520-848-4045 between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily or email [email protected].
Meanwhile, Pima County officials are shifting to indoor vaccination sites to avoid making staff and volunteers endure long days in triple-degree temperatures.
Tucson Medical Center has shut down its drive-thru vaccination clinics and transferred its operations to the Udall Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. The site is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Register at https://vaccine.tmcaz.com/MyChart/OpenScheduling.
Pima County has opened a new indoor vaccine site at the Kino Event Center, where the county had earlier been doing COVID testing. That site is open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Register at azdhs.gov.
The county has also opened an indoor vaccination POD at El Pueblo Center, 101 W. Irvington Road, which is open Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. No appointment is necessary.
The drive-through POD at Banner-South Kino Stadium, 2500 E. Ajo Way, is now offering appointments between 7:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and will close permanently on May 14.
As of Tuesday, April 27, 393,443 people in Pima County had received at least one shot of the virus, accounting for 37.7% of the population. A total of 304,038 people were fully vaccinated.
For more information or additional mobile clinics, visit pima.gov/covid19vaccineregistration or call 520-222-0119.
Many local pharmacies are now receiving vaccine doses. To find one near you, visit the ADHS website.
Get tested: Pima County has free COVID testing
Pima County is continuing to offer a number of testing centers and pop-up testing sites around town, including the northside Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road. Schedule an appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.
The University of Arizona’s antibody testing can determine if you have had COVID and now have antibodies. To sign up for testing, visit https://covid19antibodytesting.arizona.edu/home.
Today’s numbers
With 682 new cases reported today, the total number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases rose past 860,000 as of Tuesday, April 27, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
Pima County, which reported 64 new cases today, has seen 114,956 of the state’s 860,169 confirmed cases.
With 8 new deaths reported this morning, a total of 17,276 Arizonans have died after contracting COVID-19, including 2,391 deaths in Pima County, according to the April 27 report.
A total of 615 coronavirus patients were in the hospital as of April 26. That’s roughly 12% of the number hospitalized at the peak of the winter surge, which reached 5,082 on Jan. 12. The summer peak was 3,517, which was set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent lowest number of hospitalized COVID patients was 468, set on Sept. 27, 2020.
A total of 900 people visited emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on April 25. That number represents 38% of the record high of 2,341 set on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2020. That number had peaked during the summer wave at 2,008 on July 7, 2020; it hit a subsequent low of 653 on Sept. 28, 2020.
A total of 185 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on April 25d, which roughly 15% of the record 1,183 ICU patients set on Jan. 11. The summer’s record number of patients in ICU beds was 970, set on July 13, 2020. The subsequent low was 114 on Sept. 22, 2020.
—with additional reporting from Austin Counts, Christina Duran, Jeff Gardner and Mike Truelsen
