The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona climbed past 131K as of Wednesday, July 15, after the state reported 3,257 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County had seen 12,406 of the state's 131,354 confirmed cases.

A total of 2,434 people have died after contracting the virus.

Maricopa County has 86,483 of the state's cases.

Hospitals remain under pressure. The report shows that 3,493 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state.

A total of 1,810 people visited ERs yesterday.

A total of 929 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday.

In response to the rising cases, Gov. Doug Ducey said last week that restaurants would be limited to 50 percent capacity, though he took no other steps to reduce the spread of the virus other than announcing that the state would be stepping up its testing program in the weeks to come.

Ducey said the state was reaching a plateau since local officials had begun requiring masks in some communities but stopped short of mandating the wearing of masks himself. Ducey said it would be better if Arizonans decided to do that without his mandate.

Democrats in the Arizona Senate released a joint statement saying they were "profoundly disappointed" in Ducey's failure to take further action.

"The newest actions to curb COVID-19 in Arizona are reactionary, piecemeal half measures that are inadequate to substantially slow the spread of the virus." the lawmakers wrote. "We have urged, and continue to urge, the governor to take swift and preemptive actions to curtail the virus’s spread, especially in light of Arizona being reported as the worst in the world for the COVID-19 pandemic. If we truly care about the health and economy of the state, then we need another statewide stay at home order. Only limiting indoor dining to less than 50 percent is woefully inadequate to significantly curb the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona. This fragmented approach has clear economic consequences–consequences that could have been avoided had we taken the pandemic seriously earlier. Taking more aggressive action now will allow us to safely open schools in the future."

Ducey's handling of the virus has caused a steep drop in his job approval numbers, according to a poll released yesterday by OH Predictive Insights. Pollster Mike Noble noted that in his latest survey of 600 likely 2020 voters, conducted July 6-7, showed that voters had sharply turned on Ducey's handling of the coronavirus, with his approval dropping to 35 percent with 63 percent disapproval. In a similar June poll, 59 percent of Arizonans approved of Ducey's handling of the coronavirus and only 37 disapproved.

“As goes the coronavirus so goes Doug Ducey’s fortunes among Arizona voters,” said OHPI Chief of Research Mike Noble in a prepared statement. “When the outbreak was being contained, Ducey was popular. Now that cases are on the rise, his disapproval rating is too.”

Tomorrow afternoon the Arizona Bowl will be holding a school supply drive.

Volunteers will be collecting donations from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Fast Signs located at 3009 E Speedway which will benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Tucson.

Donations will be taken via drive-thru to ensure safety and social distancing.

PHOENIX – Washington’s NFL team on Monday officially dropped its name, a derogatory term for Native Americans that the team has held since 1933.

Native leaders and supporters in Arizona hailed a change activists have been working toward for years. The reactions ranged from relief to reflection.

Reflecting on a victory years in the making
Amanda Blackhorse
An activist and member of the Navajo Nation, Blackhorse was a plaintiff in the lawsuit Blackhorse v. Pro Football Inc. (2014)

“Today is truly a monumental day in our fight to eliminate racist ‘Native’ mascots and names in professional sports. Farewell to the Washington team’s racist r-word name and logo!” she said in a news release. “As much as I want to fully celebrate this day, I am concerned with the Washington team’s lack of clarity around their rebrand. In their statement, they did not commit to rebranding without any ‘Native’ names, themes, or imagery. Given the history of the Washington franchise and recent public statement from Coach Ron Rivera, they’ve mentioned favoring new branding that honors Native people and the military. In order for the Washington team to truly stand for racial equality, a 100% rebrand of the Washington franchise with NO Native themes/imagery/names is required.”


A chance to get it right
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez
“For us, here in the Navajo Nation, we are grateful; we appreciate that the name will not be used anymore. But we have been advocating for that for some time, and Amanda (Blackhorse) has been at the forefront of this and I appreciate her strength and her resilience even though she is dealing with others out there, maybe non-Natives that are pushing back on this. If this name has been utilized for many decades to put down Native Americans, here is a chance for the NFL and the team to get it right.”

PHOENIX – From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, health experts have pointed to smoking as one of several risk factors that could worsen the disease and potentially lead to death.

Now an analysis of available research shows just how dangerous tobacco use might be during COVID-19 – nearly doubling the risk of disease progression in smokers and former smokers.

The research, coupled with fresh warnings from global health experts about correlations between smoking and the novel coronavirus that causes the disease, runs counter to a much-publicized French study that claims smoking might somehow protect individuals against infection.

“Smoking significantly worsens COVID-19,” said Stanton Glantz, professor of medicine and director of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.

Cigarette smoking is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And though smoking has declined in past years, in 2018 nearly 14 of every 100 U.S. adults – about 34 million people – smoked cigarettes.

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The Paycheck Protection Program was launched to rescue the little guy, the millions of small businesses without the deep pockets needed to survive the COVID-19 shock.

But among the restaurants, dentists and mom-and-pops was Vibra Healthcare, a chain of hospitals and therapy centers spread across 19 states with over 9,000 employees. The biggest PPP loan was supposed to be $10 million, but Vibra found a way to land as much as $97 million.

In other contexts, Vibra boasts annual revenues of $1 billion, but when the company got in line to receive what is essentially free government money (the loans are forgivable), it made itself seem small. From Vibra’s corporate address in Pennsylvania, 26 limited liability companies received PPP loans, 23 of them from the same bank, with almost all the loan approvals coming on the same day in April.

ProPublica found several other large businesses employing the same apparent strategy of counting each of their LLCs or other entities as a separate business. In Las Vegas, a casino operator backed by hedge funds got 20 loans. Two nursing home chains received tens of millions of dollars: One chain in Illinois got loans for 51 different entities, while another based in Georgia got 19. Together, ProPublica was able to identify up to $516 million that flowed to just 15 organizations.

PHOENIX – The head of the private company that runs a migrant detention center in Eloy told a House panel Monday he is “immensely proud” of its operations, even as lawmakers questioned its response to the COVID-19 crisis.

CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger was one of four private contractors who testified before a House Homeland Security subcommittee Monday on their operation of detention facilities for Immigration and Customs Enforcement – contracts that are worth billions, committee Democrats noted.

Throughout the roughly three-hour virtual hearing, the contractors insisted that conditions in the detention centers are “safe” for both detainees and employees and that they are following health and safety guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Since the pandemic began we have worked quickly to execute the guidance of the CDC and our partners,” Hininger testified. “I believe the practices and the measures CoreCivic has implemented in our facilities have prevented further transmission of COVID-19.”

But most committee members appeared skeptical.

“It is clear that ICE and its contractors have not taken this outbreak seriously and have not treated it aggressively enough,” said Rep. Kathleen Rice, D-New York, the chairwoman of the subcommittee.

UPDATE: The Trump Administration has since rescinded the order.

On Monday, July 13, a coalition of 20 universities from multiple states – including the University of Arizona – filed a lawsuit challenging a recent order from the federal government that requires international students to attend in-person classes during the current pandemic, or face deportation.

The Immigrations and Customs Enforcement order, which was issued on July 6, states that the U.S. Department of State will not issue visas to "students enrolled in schools and/or programs that are fully online for the fall semester nor will U.S. Customs and Border Protection permit these students to enter the United States. Active students currently in the United States enrolled in such programs must depart the country or take other measures, such as transferring to a school with in-person instruction to remain in lawful status. If not, they may face immigration consequences including, but not limited to, the initiation of removal proceedings."
The lawsuit, issued in a federal court in Eugene, Oregon, states that that ICE's order was made without warning and without any input from the schools or students directly affected by it and that the federal government's rationale for the order was to coerce schools to reopen.

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona climbed past 128K as of Tuesday, July 14, after the state reported 4,273 new cases this morning, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Pima County had seen 12,114 of the state's 128,097 confirmed cases.

A total of 2,337 people have died after contracting the virus.

Maricopa County has 84,233 of the state's cases.

Hospitals remain under pressure. The report shows that 3,517 COVID patients were hospitalized yesterday in the state.

A total of 1,553 people visited ERs yesterday.

A total of 970 COVID-19 patients were in ICU beds yesterday.

In response to the rising cases, Gov. Doug Ducey said last week that restaurants would be limited to 50 percent capacity, though he took no other steps to reduce the spread of the virus other than announcing that the state would be stepping up its testing program in the weeks to come.

Ducey said the state was reaching a plateau since local officials had begun requiring masks in some communities but stopped short of mandating the wearing of masks himself. Ducey said it would be better if Arizonans decided to do that without his mandate.

Democrats in the Arizona Senate released a joint statement saying they were "profoundly disappointed" in Ducey's failure to take further action.

"The newest actions to curb COVID-19 in Arizona are reactionary, piecemeal half measures that are inadequate to substantially slow the spread of the virus." the lawmakers wrote. "We have urged, and continue to urge, the governor to take swift and preemptive actions to curtail the virus’s spread, especially in light of Arizona being reported as the worst in the world for the COVID-19 pandemic. If we truly care about the health and economy of the state, then we need another statewide stay at home order. Only limiting indoor dining to less than 50 percent is woefully inadequate to significantly curb the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona. This fragmented approach has clear economic consequences–consequences that could have been avoided had we taken the pandemic seriously earlier. Taking more aggressive action now will allow us to safely open schools in the future."

Ducey's handling of the virus has caused a steep drop in his job approval numbers, according to a poll released yesterday by OH Predictive Insights. Pollster Mike Noble noted that in his latest survey of 600 likely 2020 voters, conducted July 6-7, showed that voters had sharply turned on Ducey's handling of the coronavirus, with his approval dropping to 35 percent with 63 percent disapproval. In a similar June poll, 59 percent of Arizonans approved of Ducey's handling of the coronavirus and only 37 disapproved.
“As goes the coronavirus so goes Doug Ducey’s fortunes among Arizona voters,” said OHPI Chief of Research Mike Noble in a prepared statement. “When the outbreak was being contained, Ducey was popular. Now that cases are on the rise, his disapproval rating is too.”

Democrat Mark Kelly, who is challenging Republican Sen. Martha McSally, reported raising nearly $12.8 million dollars between April and June this year, according to a press release from Team Kelly.

Kelly ended the quarter with $24 million on hand.

“We continue to be humbled by the hundreds of thousands of people chipping in whatever they can, because they want to see Mark Kelly’s experience and independent approach representing Arizonans—defending health care protections for those with pre-existing conditions and fighting for our state in the U.S. Senate,” said Team Kelly campaign manager Jen Cox.

Team McSally has not yet reported numbers for second-quarter fundraising. Campaign fundraising reports are due tomorrow.

At the end of the first quarter in March, Kelly had raised a total of $31 million to McSally's $18.6 million. Kelly then had $19.7 million remaining in the bank, compared to McSally's $10.2 million, according to Open Secrets.

Kelly has consistently led McSally in polls in the race.

More to come.news