PIMA COUNTY, July 1, 2020 – The Pima County Health Department today launched a substantial media campaign to help educate the public about how to find restaurants, pools and attractions that meet the Department’s COVID-19 operating requirements.
The program, called Ready For You, is tied to the Board of Supervisors May 21 Proclamation establishing COVID-19 protective measure requirements for restaurants, county-leased visitor attractions, and pools operated by resorts, hotels, fitness centers and gyms. Though Gov. Doug Ducey this week closed gyms and bars, the Ready For You program will still apply to those facilities when they are ready to reopen.
Businesses that meet the County’s requirements will receive the Ready For You emblem to display at entrances and use in marketing materials and social media. The intent is to develop consumer confidence that the county has reviewed an establishment’s operations and confirmed it is following the COVID-19 protection rules set by the Board of Supervisors.
“We know cases have been rising precipitously the past few weeks in Pima County, but many restaurants and other businesses are still open and are likely to remain so. We want the public to know which ones are doing all that they should be doing to help us reduce the spread of COVID-19 in Pima County,” said Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Cullen.
The County in April convened a Back to Business committee to review standards and methods for reopening. The committee had numerous subcommittees and more than 120 members of the business community and public health experts and physicians help the Board craft the reopening rules for operation during the pandemic.
The rules are temporary and the Board’s emphasis with the Ready For You program is education and encouragement rather than enforcement. Businesses that are permitted by the Health Department’s Consumer Health and Food Safety Division will be inspected for adherence to the protective measures. Those that are following all of the measures will receive the Ready For You emblem. Businesses that have received the emblem will be posted online at pimaready.com. The site also contains the Board proclamation with all of the protective measures establishments must follow.
Because there are more than 2,000 businesses covered by the proclamation, the Health Department has included a form at pimaready.com for businesses to submit attesting that the establishment is following the requirement. A Health Department sanitarian will then contact the business and conduct a visual inspection via video chat for verification. Sanitarians will verify or reverify compliance during regular onsite inspections as part of the overall health and safety inspection process.
Sun Corridor Inc. Senior Vice President Laura Shaw is the chair of the Back to Business Community Updates Subcommittee and has helped the county craft the media campaign launching today.
“We want our community to be as safe as possible to do business together. When you enter a business displaying the Ready for You emblem, you will know at a glance that the business you’re about to enter takes health and wellbeing seriously, has pledged to follow these safety guidelines and is being monitored for compliance,” Shaw said.
The media campaign includes print, broadcast, outdoor, digital, and social media ads in English and Spanish throughout the county. The goal of the campaign is to make the Ready For You check mark emblem easily recognizable and understood.
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