Arizona COVID-19 cumulative counts, Dec. 14
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Select regional and national coverage of the COVID-19 outbreak as of Thursday afternoon, April 2. For more coverage, visit our resource page. This story may be updated.
Tucson school districts working to provide services
AZPM, April 2
Schools across Tucson are working to feed and still teach their students even as schools are closed through the end of the year.
Sunnyside Unified School District has been serving grab-and-go breakfasts and lunches to kids at 10 schools since mid-March. As of this week, meals are also being served from buses at 28 at locations around the district on Tucson's south side. In total, they’re feeding about 4,000 students a day.
Arizona initiative backers want to gather signatures online
AP, April 2
PHOENIX (AP) — Backers of four voter initiatives want the Arizona Supreme Court to let them gather qualifying signatures online now that the state is under a stay at home order because of the coronoavirus outbreak.
The proponents asked the high court Thursday to allow them to use the same electronic system that state and federal office candidates use to gather signatures. They say there’s no other safe and effective way for them to get their proposals on the ballot.
The four initiatives would legalize marijuana, raise taxes on high-earning Arizonans to boost school funding, limit school vouchers and implement criminal justice reform.
Arizona unemployment agency inundated with layoff claims
AP, April 2
GLENDALE, Ariz (AP) — A tidal wave of claims triggered by mass coronavirus-related layoffs has inundated Arizona's unemployment insurance office.
Laid-off workers have experienced telephone and internet filing glitches and unemployment claim processing delays as filings soar far beyond previous records. The Department of Economic Security says it is working to boost capacity. Department spokeswoman Tasya Peterson says the state projects 100,000 new filings this week. There were 89,000 claims last week from people filing for benefits and 28,000 the week before. The state previously averaged about 3,500 claims per week.
The Department of Health Services on Thursday reported 1,598 Arizona coronavirus cases and 32 deaths.
Memo: Some in US may not get stimulus checks until August
AP, April 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — The federal government expects to begin making payments to millions of Americans under the new stimulus law in mid-April, but some people without direct deposit information may not get checks until mid-August or later.
That's according to a memo obtained Thursday by The Associated Press. The document from the House Ways and Means Committee says the IRS will make about 60 million payments to Americans through direct deposit in mid-April, likely the week of April 13. The IRS has direct deposit information for these individuals from their 2018 or 2019 tax returns.
Paper checks will be issued, starting May 4, but could take up to 20 weeks.
With US border work on track, rural towns fear virus spread
AP, April 2
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Major construction projects are moving forward along both U.S. borders and raising fears that the influx of workers could spread the coronavirus.
Along the northern border, a Canadian company says it will start work this month on a disputed oil pipeline that could bring thousands of workers to rural areas in Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska. Along the southern border, workers travel every day from camps in New Mexico to build President Donald Trump’s border wall.
Residents, tribal leaders and state officials worry that the work could make problems worse in rural areas with little or no medical infrastructure capable of handling an outbreak.
Pima County calls for medical volunteers
Fronteras Desk, April 1
Pima County has begun to call for volunteers to be ready when an anticipated surge of COVID-19 patients begins to develop in Arizona.
The county has begun building a database of volunteers with specific skills it can call upon to help fight the coronavirus. Critically needed: nurses with intensive care and emergency department experience.
Census going forward despite coronavirus delays
AZPM, April 1
Feeling cooped up? Bored of social distancing? Well, here's something to do today: Help the federal government decide how to spend nearly $700 billion dollars.
That's how much is on the line every single year, and it will be guided by the results of the 2020 census.
It’s Census Day, but that’s not a deadline. The census form can be submitted until August. It’s a reference point. The federal government takes a snapshot of where Americans live as of April 1.
But the coronavirus pandemic has put a damper on the decennial count. Libraries and community centers have closed, and that means no questionnaire assistance and get-out-the-count events.
Follow-up visits to households that don’t respond have been postponed to June.
Sonora asks medical students to join coronavirus fight
Fronteras Desk, April 1
Sonora, the Mexican state bordering Arizona, is calling for medical students and others to join the pandemic fight.
Sonoran Health Secretary Enrique Clausen said the invitation is open for students in their fourth semesters or beyond.
“For those young students that join this great struggle, there will be much to do,” he said in a video announcement this week.
A broader call is being made to attract more than 1,500 health care professionals to assist the response in Sonora.
ICE: Detainee held in Arizona has COVID-19
Fronteras Desk, April 1
A 45-year-old Guatemalan held at the La Palma Correctional Center has tested positive for COVID-19, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
ICE spokeswoman Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in an emailed statement that everyone who came in contact with the Guatemalan has been isolated and is being watched for symptoms.
The Arizona chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association said a person who was about to be deported was brought to La Palma. A prior medical condition caused the person to be hospitalized. And it was confirmed they had COVID-19.
EPA defends plan to ease compliance requirements in face of coronavirus
Cronkite News, April 2
PHOENIX – The Environmental Protection Agency this week defended its plans to waive some environmental compliance requirements in the face of the coronavirus, insisting the temporary policy is “not a license to pollute.”
Environmentalists were not convinced, repeating charges that the “pretty outrageous” policy, first announced last week, creates a “catch me if you can” situation for polluters.
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