Thursday, October 15, 2020
PHOENIX – A prominent health expert expressed worry Wednesday about rising COVID-19 numbers across Arizona, saying the trend is reminiscent of early summer conditions that preceded a spike in cases and rollback of measures to reopen businesses.
“This is a moment to sort of stop and take measure and think hard about: What can we do to prevent this?” said Joshua LaBaer, executive director of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, which is tracking case trends across Arizona’s 15 counties, as well as in the state overall and the nation.
LaBaer said 902 new cases were reported Wednesday morning by the Arizona Department of Health Services, and “we haven’t seen that in a while.” One week ago, that daily number of new cases was 786.
Cases are rising in Maricopa, Yuma, Navajo and Coconino counties, among others, he said.
“In terms of numbers of new cases, we are on a path headed toward exponential growth,” LaBaer said. “The tricky thing about exponential growth is that it doesn’t look like it’s growing very fast at first. The numbers day over day don’t look like they’re big changes. But then all of a sudden, it really can take off. And so I am concerned.”
With 1,113 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 228,000 as of Thursday, Oct. 15, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County had seen 26,727 of the state’s 228,748 confirmed cases.
With 17 new deaths yesterday, a total of 5,789 Arizonans had died after contracting COVID-19, including 633 deaths in Pima County, according to the Oct. 15 report.
The number of hospitalized COVID cases has declined from July peaks but has ticked upward this week. ADHS reported that as of Oct. 14, 726 COVID patients were hospitalized in the state. That number peaked with 3,517 hospitalized COVID patients on July 13.
A total of 753 people visited emergency rooms on Oct. 14 with COVID symptoms. That number peaked at 2,008 on July 7.
A total of 173 COVID-19 patients were in intensive care unit beds on Oct. 14. The number of COVID patients in ICUs peaked at 970 on July 13.
On a week-by-week basis in Pima County, the number of positive COVID tests peaked the week ending July 4 with 2,453 cases, according to an Oct. 7 report from the Pima County Health Department. For the week ending Sept. 5, a total of 863 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 12, 1,105 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 19, 1,219 cases were reported; for the week ending Sept. 26, 582 cases were reported; for the week ending Oct. 3, 472 cases were reported. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Deaths in Pima County are down from a peak of 54 in the week ending July 4 to 10 in the week ending Sept. 5, one in the week ending Sept. 12, three in the week ending Sept. 19, two in the week ending Sept. 26 and one in the week ending Oct. 3. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Hospitalization peaked the week ending July 18 with 221 COVID patients admitted to Pima County hospitals. In the week ending Aug. 29, 37 COVID patients were admitted to Pima County hospitals; in the week ending Sept. 5, 26 patients were admitted to Pima County hospitals; in the week ending Sept. 12, 23 patients were admitted; in the week ending Sept. 19, 14 patients were admitted; in the week ending Sept. 26, 11 people were admitted and in the week ending Oct. 3, 17 patients were admitted. (Recent weeks are subject to revision.)
Get tested: Pima County opening new downtown testing center, UA offering antibody testing
The Pima County Health Department will be opening a new COVID-19 testing site downtown this Friday, Oct. 16. The new Downtown Tucson Testing Center will be located at 88 E. Broadway Blvd., on the southwest corner of Broadway and Sixth Ave. Testing will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Testing is available without an appointment, or by appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.
With workday testing available around lunchtime, the county health department hopes this new site will serve as a resource for downtown employees. As with other county testing locations, the tests will be conducted by Paradigm Laboratories, and results will be available online in 72 hours or less.
“Quick and accessible testing is a key factor in helping businesses protect their employees and patrons as the pandemic continues,” said PCHD director Dr. Theresa Cullen in a press release. “We want to do all that we can to support businesses as they get back on their feet.”
The county has three other free testing centers with easy-to-schedule appointments—often with same-day availability—with results in 24 to 72 hours.
You’ll have a nasal swab test at the Kino Event Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way, and the Udall Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road. The center at the northside Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center, 1660 W. Ruthrauff Road, involves a saliva test designed by ASU.
Schedule an appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.
The centers are also tied into Pima County’s developing contact tracing operation, which aims to be able to identify potential clusters and warn people if they have been in contact with someone who is COVID-positive.
The University of Arizona’s antibody testing has been opened to all Arizonans as the state attempts to get a handle on how many people have been exposed to COVID-19 but were asymptomatic or otherwise did not get a test while they were ill.
To sign up for testing, visit https://covid19antibodytesting.arizona.edu/home.
—with additional reporting from Nicole Ludden, Austin Counts, Jeff Gardner and Mike Truelsen
Tags: covid , coronavirus , Image
WASHINGTON – Voting rights groups who thought they had until Oct. 23 to register new voters were scrambling Wednesday after a federal court set a new registration deadline of 11:59 p.m. Thursday.
The ruling late Tuesday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stays a lower court’s order that extended the deadline from the original Oct. 5, after advocates claimed that the COVID-19 shutdown earlier this year prevented them from registering thousands of potential voters.
The appeals court said the lower court had no business extending the deadline – but also delayed its stay until Thursday to ensure that the thousands who have registered since Oct. 5 would not have their registrations thrown out.
Advocates said they were disappointed with the ruling. But they also claimed that they have been able to register thousands of new voters during the registration window since Oct. 5, and that they continue doing so until Thursday.
“Mi Familia Vota along with our partner organizations are going to continue to work tirelessly to ensure that we can register as many eligible voters as possible so they can participate in this Election,” said Yara Marin, the organization’s political director.
Wednesday, October 14, 2020
PHOENIX – With a glance toward the southern sky this month, you’ll see Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system. With a telescope or good binoculars, you may also see several of Jupiter’s 79 known moons.
Four of those moons, Europa, Callisto, Ganymede and Io, are heating up more than scientists thought they should considering Jupiter is the fifth planet from the sun – 483 million miles away.
A recent study found that a process known as tidal heating among these moons is the reason Europa, Ganymede and Callisto contain subsurface oceans and Io contains magma. The new discovery could help astronomers understand more about how Jupiter’s moons evolved.
Ultimately, Antony Trinh, a postdoctoral research associate studying planetary geophysics and theoretical astrophysics at the University of Arizona, said researchers hope to understand the source of the heat better to understand “its influence on the evolution and habitability of the many worlds across the solar system and beyond.”
The Pima County Health Department will be opening a new COVID-19 testing site downtown this Friday, Oct. 16. The new Downtown Tucson Testing Center will be located at 88 E. Broadway Blvd., on the southwest corner of Broadway and Sixth Ave. Testing will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Testing is available without an appointment, or by appointment at pima.gov/covid19testing.
With workday testing available around lunch time, the county health department hopes this new site will serve as a resource for downtown employees. As with other county testing locations, the tests will be conducted by Paradigm Laboratories, and results will be available online in 72 hours or less.
“Quick and accessible testing is a key factor in helping businesses protect their employees and patrons as the pandemic continues,” said PCHD director Dr. Theresa Cullen in a press release. “We want to do all that we can to support businesses as they get back on their feet.”
Officials from the Arizona Department of Public Safety used excessive force and tear gas against demonstrators protesting the construction of a border wall at sites considered sacred to the Tohono O’odham Nation, according to a press release from Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s office.
The release says Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Ned Norris confirmed the use of force against protesters at Quitobaquito Springs.
“For months, the O’odham people have pleaded with DHS to protect Quitobaquito Springs and other sacred sites along the border while the Trump Administration has continued to bulldoze their ancestral lands to build his useless vanity wall,” Grijalva said in the press release. “Now, law enforcement officials are using tear gas and excessive force against Native Americans exercising their constitutional rights in an abhorrent attempt to silence their voices. Americans are keenly aware of the historical mistreatment of this nation’s indigenous peoples, and the public will be rightfully incensed by this action. This treatment will not stand.”
The U.S. Representative for Arizona's 3rd congressional district held a hearing in the house’s Subcommittee on Indigenous Peoples in early February after the Trump administration used explosives to clear the way for border fencing at Monument Hill in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, a site considered sacred to the Tohono O’odham.
“The federal government’s continued destruction of our religious and cultural resources are nothing less than bulldozing of our church grounds and cemeteries,” Chairman of the Tohono O’odham Nation Ned Norris said at the hearing. “The federal government owes our government and the governments of local border communities more respect.”
According to the press release, Grijalva is demanding an investigation into the use of force against protestors.
“Those responsible for this egregious display of excessive force against peaceful protestors, who are members of the Tohono O’odham Nation and their allies, must be held responsible,” Grijalva said. “I’m demanding an investigation into this act. The border wall has already destroyed precious desert habitats, divided families, and left an ugly scar across Southern Arizona.”
This article was misattributed when first published. The reporter's name has been corrected.
LOS ANGELES — More than two years after the federal ban on sports betting was lifted, Arizona is one of 28 states that have not passed legislation to legalize gambling on sports in-person or online.
A bill that would have legalized land-based sportsbooks, Senate Bill 1525, with exclusive rights going to Native American tribes, was introduced in the Legislature in February, but it didn’t make it out of committee.
“There is a good, happy medium where we are not stepping on tribal toes,” said state Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu City, who co-sponsored the bill. “Because it could be done in such a way where everybody should be able to share and everybody could prosper.”
The main hurdle is the Arizona Tribal-State Gaming Compact, which voters narrowly passed by a 51% margin in 2002.
“You have to have all the tribes (in the gaming compact) agree and sign off on to anything additional or expansion in the compact, they all have to agree,” Borrelli said. “It comes down to the gaming compact and how flexible it is. The first step is getting the tribes to be on board with it, and then you have to go through the state side of it.”
A researcher at the University of Arizona has received a $1.82 million grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to advance the capabilities of a device that can detect single molecules, such as biomarkers for cancer, Alzheimer's disease and COVID-19.
Biomedical engineering professor Judith Su operates the Little Sensor Lab at UA, the core of which is a technology called the "frequency locked optical whispering evanescent resonator," or FLOWER. This device detects whispering gallery waves, a phenomenon where sound or light waves travel around a concave surface.
On a microscopic level, FLOWER examines light traveling around a small ring. Each time the light makes a loop, a small amount may interact with a close-by solution such as blood or water. If a molecule of the solution interacts with the lightwave, it slightly changes the light's refraction. As the light continues to loop around the ring, it interacts with the molecules more, increasing the chance of detection.
According to Su, normal sensors interact with a molecule once, but in this case, it interacts with the molecule hundreds of thousands of times, resulting in the detector’s sensitivity boost. Thanks to this versatile testing method, FLOWER can be used to detect a variety of molecules. And because COVID-19 can travel via airborne molecules, FLOWER may hold the key to a non-invasive breath test for COVID-19 instead of a swab or a blood test.
"Everything our lab does is centered around ultrasensitive optical sensing, for a wide variety of applications, like environmental health monitoring, food and water quality monitoring, and detecting toxic industrial chemicals," Su said. "Anything worth sensing, we sense."
The Fourth Avenue Merchants Association is canceling their annual winter street fair due to a new special event permit application which would leave little time to properly plan the event.
New guidelines released by the City of Tucson and Pima County last week state that all special events of 50 people or more held in unincorporated Pima County will need to apply with the Pima County Health Department. The special event application turnaround time is between 14 to 21 days, according to an Oct. 9 email sent by the county.
“We can’t do anything without proper permitting,” said Monique Vallery of the Fourth Avenue Merchants Association. “We want to produce the safest COVID adherent event as possible and time just isn’t in our favor.”
Typically, the merchants association would only need to apply for a special event permit with the city, Vallery said. While she “absolutely respects” the county and city’s decision to keep Tucsonans safe during the pandemic, Vallery said she is disappointed at the timing of these new protocols because “it makes planning for an event this size impossible.”
“Because we haven’t been able to see what guideline would be or what those expectations would be earlier, it really doesn’t allow for enough time to come up with a mitigation plan to fit the needs of all parties,” Vallery said.
This is the second street fair the merchant's association has had to cancel due to coronavirus concerns. About 98 percent of the association’s revenue budget comes from the bi-annual street fair, according to Vallery. She said the association has worked hard to save over the past several years for a rainy day, but “nobody expected this rainy day to be this big or last this long.”
“This is certainly devastating but our goal is to continue to support our local merchants on the avenue, as well as all the folks we support through our community partners,” Vallery said. “We’re working hard to continue down the path get us to the Spring Street Fair.”
The Fourth Avenue Spring Street Fair is slated for March 19-21, 2021.
