Tuesday, May 25, 2021
Monday, May 24, 2021
On Tuesday, eegee's will open a new prototype location in South Tucson that will feature an “eegee-only” drive-thru window. The new location is at the Landing shopping area, 4765 S. Landing Center Dr., near Interstate 19 and Irvington Road.
The new 2,200 square-foot space will feature a full drive-thru with a walk-up order window and garage doors to allow for an indoor/outdoor experience.
For Tuesday's grand opening from 4 to 6 p.m., eegee’s is inviting the public to enjoy food and drinks (including new items) and stock up on the greatly coveted eegee's swag.
“We’re so excited to bring our menu to the residents of South Tucson,” says CEO Ron Petty. “This area has seen tremendous growth and we felt it was the perfect place to debut our new prototype. And while our look and feel has evolved over time, our classic menu items and the service we provide remains the same.”
For more information, visit eegees.com
Here are this week's vaccination sites in Pima County.
For more information, head to the Pima County COVID-19 information site.
If you know of other sites we've missed, please send an email to [email protected].
No appointment needed
Monday, May 23 - Tuesday, May 25
- COPE Community Services, 5401 E. 5th Street, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
- Park Place Mall, 5870 E. Broadway Blvd., East Parking lot (east of Park Place Drive), 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Monday, May 24
- Palo Verde High School, 1302 S. Avenida Vega, 2 - 7 p.m.
- Shalom Fellowship, 6045 E. 30th St., 3 - 7 p.m.
Thursday, May 27
- Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave., 6 - 9 p.m.
Thursday, May 27 - Saturday, May 29
- Pima Air & Space Museum, 6000 E. Valencia Road, 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
- Westgate Shopping Center, Southeast corner of E. Ajo Way and S. Mission Road, 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday, May 29
- St. Margaret Mary Alacoque Roman Catholic Church, 801 N. Grande Ave., 8 a.m. - 2 p.m.
- Corpus Christi Catholic Church, 300 N. Tanque Verde Loop Road, 9 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 30
- San Miguel High School/St. Monica Church, 6601 San Fernando Ave., 2 - 7 p.m.
Monday, Wednesday, Friday
- El Pueblo Center, 101 W. Irvington Road, 4 – 8 p.m. - Closing May 28
Monday-Saturday
- Kino Event Center, 2805 E. Ajo Way, 9 a.m.–7 p.m.
Monday-Friday
- Tucson Convention Center, 260 S. Church Ave., 8 a.m.–4 p.m.
- Tucson Medical Center, 7200 E. Tanque Verde Road (Morris K. Udall Center), 8 a.m.–5 p.m. (open to 7 p.m. May 25, June 1)
- Tucson Mall — in former Justice store, 2nd floor between Dillards and Sears, 4500 N. Oracle Road, 11 a.m.-3 p.m.
Monday-Saturday
- State POD-University of Arizona, Indoors: Gittings, 1737 E. University Blvd., 10 a.m.–5 p.m. (closed May 29-31)
Appointment needed
Monday-Friday
- Tucson Mall, 4500 N. Oracle Road, 11 a.m. - 3 p.m., Monday through Friday
Daily
- Foothills Mall — in former Old Navy store, 7401 N. La Cholla Blvd, noon-8 p.m.
The Arizona Department of Health Services is asking health care providers, especially pediatricians, to prioritize vaccinations over the fear of vaccine wastage.
ADHS Director Dr. Cara Christ said they had heard that some providers may be fearful of opening a bottle to pull out a couple of doses when they may not have to use the other doses on the same day. She said while they continue to minimize waste, it should not be at the expense of vaccinating someone.
“In the beginning when vaccine was in very, very short supply and we had high demand, we were very, very careful about using every single dose of vaccine,” said Christ. “If you do have to open a vial to extract just a couple of doses, take that opportunity, get that individual vaccinated because we don't want any missed opportunities for our providers. And while we do want to minimize vaccine wastage, getting people vaccinated and preventing hospitalization and death is very important.”
The state hopes more providers will register to become COVID-19 vaccinators and receive COVID-19 vaccine. To order vaccine, providers would need to become pandemic vaccine providers through the state or a federal program.
As of May 17, eligible health providers can order all types of COVID-19 vaccine directly from the CDC, without an allocation from their local health department, said Christ.
Previously, eligible providers could order only Moderna. With eligible providers able to request an allocation of Pfizer they would be able to administer the vaccine to children 12 to 15. More information on Pima County vaccination spots.
Christ said they anticipated that about 385,000 Arizonans became eligible for Pfizer after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s approval of the FDA’s emergency use authorization of Pfizer for children 12 to 15.
Editor’s Note: Cronkite News photographer Alberto Mariani spent several months documenting the work at Peace Chapel Funeral Home. This story contains images that some may find graphic.
PHOENIX – At 10 p.m. no words are spoken, but a loud buzz reverberates throughout Peace Chapel Funeral Home. It’s the rhythmic beat of an embalming machine pumping a mix of chemicals into a woman in her 50s.
Standing next to the body – working late again – is funeral director Ron Thornson.
Since March 2020, Thornson and his staff have routinely worked 14 to 16 hours a day, without much pause to reflect on the historic events swirling around them during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Like so many other people and businesses across the globe, these workers and this industry were hit hard by the pandemic in myriad ways.
An already trying job grew more stressful, with funeral home directors – often known as the “last responders” – left explaining to grieving customers why they couldn’t mourn in person or have big gatherings to say goodbye. Caseloads also surged as the COVID-19 death toll rose. To date, more than 580,000 people have perished in the U.S. alone.
The assumption, said Claude Robinson, Peace Chapel’s funeral coordinator, is that “death is inevitable with this profession” and that those who work in the industry are somehow immune to the effects of mass casualty events such as a pandemic.
Not so.
The nature of the job demands that workers keep their emotions masked, Robinson said.
“You are almost taught not to break when you are to serve a family,” he said, explaining that revealing too much could transfer more pain onto those already suffering.
“A lot of people don’t understand that as a funeral service worker, you have a big task,” he added. “You are not just picking the body up, cleaning it, putting makeup on and placing it in a casket. You’re expected) to coach the family, to be a financial adviser and to be a psychologist” during one of the toughest moments in life.
And in a year when death became an excruciating daily experience for most Americans, even these men and women have been touched by it.
“It has affected us all, to a certain degree,” said Thornson. “But we’ve stood strong and supported one another.”
According to the National Funeral Directors Association, the average mortuary receives 113 calls a year, with larger funeral homes getting more. But the number of cases seen by funeral workers in 2020 far outpaced those in previous years.
The U.S. death rate increased 16% from 2019 to 2020, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the number of U.S. deaths exceeded 3 million for the first time in history.
Sunday, May 23, 2021
