A Message from Steve K...05/23/2022

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Date: 05/23/2022

Topics in This Issue:

• Humanizing the Homeless

• NAMI Mental Health Awareness Month

• More Homeowner’s Assistance

• Cooling Stations

• FEAST

• Landlord Tenant Act

• Period Poverty

• Refugees

• African American Museum of Southern Arizona

• Wear Orange Day

• Blenman Elm Mural

• ByFusion Blocks

• Business Navigators

• Changes to Bar and Restaurant Parking

• Reid Park Master Plan

• Proposition 411

• COVID  

Humanizing the Homeless

This is Sandra. She's 53 years old and was born in Long Island, New York. She has a high school education and a bit of college. Her parents divorced when she was young, and she and her mom ended up moving around a lot while Sandra was growing up. Her mom worked with deaf and blind youth which made finding work relatively easy. One of the added challenges Sandra has with being homeless is that she too is deaf.

Sandra was married for 25 years. She has one son who works in construction in the Tucson area. She says her marriage was on the rocks for a long time, but they stayed together for the benefit of the son. After their divorce she ran into an ex-boyfriend, and they found a house together. She worked for Target Fulfillment Center for about 10 years until about 3 years ago. Since then, things have been tough. The house the new partner and Sandra found ended up having issues. They ended up losing the place and began living out of their car. While in the house they did not have a television and so when they transitioned to being unsheltered, she had no idea that COVID was a thing. She remembers going to one of the libraries and seeing it closed down. She had no idea why 'the place had turned into a ghost town.' And remember, she's deaf so not being able to see people's lip movement due to masks made it impossible for her to communicate. She spent about 2 years camping with her partner, until recently landing at Sister Jose. She says Easter Seals has helped her find some temporary part time work, but the communication issues continue to be a problem. With masks coming off she's hopeful for a change. Her son didn't approve of the guy she was living with and until they split up, he was out of contact. He knows where she is and being able to talk about rekindling a relationship with him clearly made her happy. She also gets joy from nature, animals and 'helping people'. Still struggling from the after-effects of a brain stroke, but working through it, she says what makes her sad is seeing people who 'won't help themselves.' She says, 'don't give up - you'll get there.' I believe she will.

NAMI Mental Health Awareness Month

NAMI is the National Alliance on Mental Illness. They’re our local go-to for all things related to seeking help and guidance with mental health-related concerns. This is Mental Health Awareness Month and last week Nadia and I had the pleasure of presenting the local chapter a proclamation in honor of their work.

Mental health issues are treatable. They’re also common. And yet society attaches a stigma to mental health diseases that isn’t true of physical sickness. We’ve all heard someone say they caught the flu. It’s less common for someone to tell you they suffer from depression, or bi-polar disorder. That should not be the case.

Here’s just a partial list of people you may have heard of who had mental illnesses; Abe Lincoln, Tipper Gore, Isaac Newton, Robin Williams, Buzz Aldrin, Charles Dickens, Sting, Ernest Hemingway, Mike Wallace, Michelangelo, Naomi Judd – and the list goes on and on. Last time I checked the mental health challenges didn’t hold back any of that group. However, it did play a role in some of them taking their own lives. It shouldn’t hold any of us back, and it should not go untreated.

If you’d like to get a full picture of the work Nami Southern Arizona does you can see their site at www.namisa.org. You’ve likely heard of the NAMI walk – their big annual fund raiser. They just held the walk on April 2^nd and due to registration drop off as a result of COVID they came up just a little short of their fund-raising goal. If you go to www.namiwalks.org/southernarizona you’ll see a link you can use to donate a few bucks. They do wonderful work and can always use the support.

COVID has only made the issue of behavioral health more difficult. We at the Ward 6 office appreciate the work they’re doing at NAMI.

More Homeowner’s Assistance

In the past couple of weeks, I’ve shared some information on rental assistance opportunities. One is the $100K we’ve donated to our housing folks through our own budget. It’s for seniors living within Ward 6. Let us know if you have candidates. In addition, there’s the state Homeowner Assistance Fund that’s offering up to $25K per household. There are restrictions. You can look into the general eligibility with this link:

HAF application and eligibility

This week I’m adding one more fund. It’s for people looking for home-buying assistance and it comes through the Tucson Industrial Development Authority (IDA.)

The title sponsor of the program is the Tucson REALTORS Charitable Foundation. The fund will be making $625,000 available in June. There are two parts to what’s being offered. One is having up to $2,500 of your closing costs covered, and the other is a $14,000 forgivable loan going towards home ownership down payment. The loan is fully refundable if the borrower stays in the home for 3 years.

The fund is for qualified professions – essential workers. That list includes a variety of workers such as health care professionals, drug store workers, nursing care workers, food service workers, postal and transit workers, and a bunch more. You can see the complete list at www.cdc.gov/covid-19. There are more and more avenues to either stay housed, or to get into a house. I’ll keep sharing options as I run across them.

Cooling Stations

While the city relies solely on the Housing First/Housing Only model for addressing our unhoused population, some of the community non-profits are making some accommodations for the heat that has arrived. The flyer shown below has several options for people to get in out of the heat. Each of them comes with their own sets of rules, so if you’re out and about and sharing this with a homeless person you see, be sure to check the restrictions.

My staff and I had an extensive conversation with multiple people within city leadership last week about what approach we’re right now taking, and how simply shifting people from one wash to another is a non-solution. We’ll keep advocating for controlled camps with provisions. And we appreciate the notes of support so many of you have sent.

FEAST

And this quick note of recognition to Doug and his staff at Feast restaurant (3719 E. Speedway.) Throughout the pandemic they’ve struggled to keep their doors open. That’s true of lots of local businesses. In the case of Feast, they’ve continued to donate meals to non-profits, despite having a tough time simply making their own ends meet. This week they’ll be donating meals at Sister Jose women’s shelter, and at Primavera men’s shelter. These donations will put Feast over the 10,000 marks for meals donated since the COVID mess began. We at the Ward 6 office are grateful to Doug and the Feast folks. If you’re out looking for a local restaurant to support, this is one you should have on your list.

Landlord Tenant Act

Last week KOLD ran a story on some apartment tenants who have been without air conditioning for several months. Over the weekend I was advised that once again the residents in student tower Sol were without hot water (or elevators – which is an entirely different violation.) The state of Arizona has a law that requires landlords provide a livable space to tenants. It’s called the Landlord Tenant Act, and it comes with actions the tenants can take to compel a remedy. The full act can be seen at this link:

https://housing.az.gov/general-public/landlord-and-tenant-act

I’ll share parts of two sections. The first is what the landlord is required to provide to tenants. It all falls under the umbrella of providing a livable space:

33-1324. Landlord to maintain fit premises

      A. The landlord shall:

1. Comply with the requirements of applicable building codes materially affecting health and safety as prescribed in section 9-1303.
2. Make all repairs and do whatever is necessary to put and keep the premises in a fit and habitable condition.
3. Keep all common areas of the premises in a clean and safe condition.
4. Maintain in good and safe working order and condition all electrical, plumbing, sanitary, heating, ventilating, air-conditioning and other facilities and appliances, including elevators, supplied, or required to be supplied by him.
5. Provide and maintain appropriate receptacles and conveniences for the removal of ashes, garbage, rubbish, and other waste incidental to the occupancy of the dwelling unit and arrange for their removal.
6. Supply running water and reasonable amounts of hot water at all times, reasonable heat and reasonable air-conditioning or cooling where such units are installed and offered, when required by seasonal weather conditions, except where the building that includes the dwelling unit is not required by law to be equipped for that purpose or the dwelling unit is so constructed that heat, air-conditioning, cooling or hot water is generated by an installation within the exclusive control of the tenant and supplied by a direct public utility connection.

There’s more, but that gives you the general idea – if you’re paying rent, it requires the basics of heat, A/C, hot and cold running water – you know, 1^st world amenities.

Tenants are not without rights. This is a part of the ‘remedies’ section of the law:

33-1363. Self-help for minor defects

A. If the landlord fails to comply with section 33-1324, and the reasonable cost of compliance is less than three hundred dollars, or an amount equal to one-half of the monthly rent, whichever amount is greater, the tenant may recover damages for the breach under section 33-1361, subsection B, or may notify the landlord of the tenant's intention to correct the condition at the landlord's expense. After being notified by the tenant in writing, if the landlord fails to comply within ten days or as promptly thereafter as conditions require in case of emergency, the tenant may cause the work to be done by a licensed contractor and, after submitting to the landlord an itemized statement and a waiver of lien, deduct from his rent the actual and reasonable cost of the work, not exceeding the amount specified in this subsection

The law goes on to cover getting alternate housing until the defects are repaired, and specifics on things such as cooling/heating, hot running water and electrical conditions. Be aware that if the tenant is the cause of the ‘defect,’ the remedies are not covered. In other words, you can’t trash your apartment and expect the landlord to cover the repairs.

We have a significant number of rentals in Ward 6, and specifically around campus. As a renter you should know your rights. In all cases you should first seek some legal help, and first advise your landlord that you’ve got items that need to be resolved and that you intend to follow the law in getting them remedied. That’s fair to the landlord, and in most cases, it gets the problem resolved without you having to engage in self-help.

Period Poverty

And while I’m on the general topic of taking care of those in need, we’re once again joining the Adelita Grijalva District 5 team in collecting ‘period products’ for women in need. We partnered with this effort last year during Period Poverty Awareness Week and many of you stepped up and brought in donations.

The Ward 6 office is open each weekday from 9-1. The donation boxes are sitting in our front entryway. We also have a cart to help tote things in if you’re bringing cases of product. Please consider taking part in this important program once again. These products are a necessity, and they’re expensive. That combination makes this donation drive especially important for so many women throughout the community.

Refugees

Last week I met with each of the 3 primary refugee resettlement agencies – doing a check-in as they prepare their projections for arrivals this coming year. In total between them we’re anticipating roughly another 1,200 refugees to arrive in Tucson. That’s a fairly ‘normal’ number, and they believe it’ll be manageable with their existing resources. The families will be coming primarily from Congo, Sudan, Somalia, some from Syria and more from Afghanistan. All of what is being planned for does not include anticipating another evacuation like what we saw in Kabul, and nobody is planning on another Putin-caused Ukraine situation.

Since the agencies believe they have the needs under control, we’re not taking donations any longer – with these exceptions; laptops, sewing machines, insta-pots, rugs, and sunscreen/personal hygiene products. Every one of the refugee families who have benefitted from your generosity is immensely grateful.

Last week in the newsletter I shared the troubling situation Judge Ahmad’s wife and daughter are experiencing. In the past week we received a call from the Ankara U.S. embassy – the tone of the call was positive. Both Ahmad and I watch our phones and emails daily, hoping to be able to share good news with you soon. The process is excruciatingly plodding. I also included a comment about a Pakistani couple who’s separated – the husband is a U.S. citizen – he's here, the wife who is a Pakistani native is stuck in Islamabad with their 1-year-old son. I received a hopeful note from State last week that their situation had been “flagged to the right people.” Nothing more yet, but I’ll keep you up to speed as that one also develops. They’ve been separated for over a year – simply waiting on the U.S. embassy to schedule an interview that’ll allow the wife to leave Pakistan.

Both the judge’s family and the Pakistani group are caught up in our slow and broken reunification process. Both have been separated for over a year. Both have filed all of the appropriate paperwork. And both are waiting for the phone to ring.

I also shared with you a short description of the Ukrainian family I’m working on. Their sponsor is here in Tucson. There’s a mom, dad, grandma and their 5-year-old daughter. All of the adults had their travel papers and were good to leave. The 5-year-old had a Homeland Security letter allowing her to leave – but the German government wouldn’t let her out because her passport was due to expire on June 1^st. They got the extension on the passport and now we’re trying like crazy to get them out before the DHS letter expires (also on June 1^st.) In anticipation of that happening, the sponsor has sent out a letter asking for some help. She is providing room and board and is looking for others to help her with that lift. Here’s a little background on the Ukrainian family.

Tetiana is the mom. She’s a 29-year-old GP physician. Her goal upon arrival is to get certified to practice here. Anton is the dad. He’s 28 and works as a mechanic. His goal is to get here and continue in that trade. Kateryna is the 75-year-old grandma. No, we’re not looking for a job for her. She’ll tend the homefires. And Kira just had her 5^th birthday on May 3^rd. She’ll be entering kindergarten this coming fall school year. The family was run out of their home in Ukraine, had a brief stop in Czechoslovakia, and is now stuck in Germany. Our hope is to get them on a plane this week and avoid any hassles with the DHS letter expiring. Getting the attention of DHS/State employees who can move that needle has been the challenge.

The local sponsor met Tetiana 14 years ago when she was teaching English at a University in Kharkiv. You’ve seen what’s left of that city on the nightly news. It’s a part of the horror the family has been through. But they’re ready to grab onto the challenges of learning a new language and getting established here in Tucson. If you can offer any help to the sponsor, please email me and I’ll get you connected. You can reach me directly at steve.kozachik@tucsonaz.gov.

Also last week the court decided to leave Title 42 in place. That’s the COVID-related policy Trump instituted to keep people in Mexico. Biden had rescinded it and that act was challenged in court by 24 governors of various states. Yes, Arizona was one of those. The court issued a 47-page decision – it's summary was pretty simple:

“The court concludes that the public interest would be served by a preliminary injunction preventing the termination of the C.D.C.’s Title 42 orders.”

Roughly 2 million expulsions have taken place along our southern border under Title 42. Each of those people would otherwise have had asylum claims or would have been placed into deportation proceedings. Those processes are the same ones we’ve been dealing with since pre-Benedictine times with Guatemalans, Salvadorians, Hondurans, and Haitians. The court said letting them in would cause “irreparable harm” by increasing the health care and education costs the governors had claimed would result. And the judge said the CDC had not been following “proper rule-making procedures” under federal law. All of that will likely continue to play out in court. Until it is resolved there will be thousands of people stuck south of the border in inhumane conditions, unable to enter our asylum/refugee process.

There are some legal analysts who say the ruling leaves the federal government in a position where we’re unable to comply with our own immigration laws, as well as international laws related to asylum for migrants. Trump used a public health order to effect immigration policy. The court allowed it to stand. I share all of this in the refugee section just to point out the reality that the hundreds of refugees we are seeing settle in Tucson is a fraction of the number of people who are displaced and living in peril – many less than 100 miles from our city center. Your donations to us, and to groups like Casa Alitas are invaluable in meeting the needs of those who do get here. Both our refugee resettlement process and our immigration processes are broken, overloaded and in need of congressional attention. And that has been true for years. Millions have suffered as a result.

There’s still the possibility that the Title 42 question will ascend to consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. We saw (or will see) what they’re doing with women’s abortion rights. That likely doesn’t bode well if they hear this case. And if the Roe implications aren’t convincing, these souvenir personalized gavels you can find in their gift shop might be.

African American Museum of Southern Arizona

If you’ve been around Tucson for a while, you’ll likely recognize #55 – he's Bob Elliott from the early McKale Center days. In fact, Bob was on the team that played in McKale the first year it was open. Now he’s teaming up with his wife Beverly and several other local leaders in establishing the African American Museum of Southern Arizona. I’m certain one of the people who’ll be honored will be Elliott’s head coach Fred Snowden – the first black to coach a major college basketball team in the country – Arizona.

The team that’s bringing the museum to the UA campus has early fall as their target date for opening. You can see where this all is headed by checking out their website at www.aamsaz.org.  If the current athletics department leadership had an ounce of class, they’d be making their facilities available for fund raising opportunities. That hasn’t happened, so the AAMSAZ team is working hard on its own to bring in the needed dollars. Please look over their site and consider partnering in honoring ‘Big Bird’, ‘The Fox’, ‘Popcorn’, ‘the Germ’, and the ‘Kiddie Corps’ in kick-starting this effort. I know you’ll be amazed at the contributions made in our community and Southern Arizona by the many black community members you’ll see on the site.

Wear Orange Day

Last week there were 10 people killed in a shooting that took place in Buffalo. Three were killed in a Fayetteville mass shooting. Two were killed in shootings in New Plymouth, Idaho, Auburn, Indiana, La Marque, Texas, Houston, Texas, Phoenix, Arizona, Benton, Kentucky, Woodbridge, Virginia, Pensacola, Florida, San Diego, California, Loganville, Georgia, Kingston, Tennessee, Chicago, Illinois, Goshen, Indiana, Muskegon, Michigan, Lynn, Massachusetts, Lincoln, Nebraska and Fenton, Missouri. You didn’t hear about those because only killing a couple of people in a shooting doesn’t generate anything but a short segment on the local news. It’s simply how we solve disagreements these days.

Join us on Saturday, June 4^th at Southside Presbyterian Church as we honor those, we’ve lost to gun violence, and the surviving family members and friends. While there’s another gun show going on out at the fairgrounds, we will gather in support of more strict gun laws. In Arizona you can buy semi-automatic weapons from strangers on the street for cash. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Southside is located at 317 W. 23^rd. The event will begin at 6pm in their patio. We’ll have music, testimonials, and mutual support. I’ll share more of the event details as they’re developed. This will be an outdoor, COVID-safe event.

Blenman Elm Mural

If you’re on the Treat bike boulevard headed north, you’ll see this new mural going onto the south-facing wall of the Tucson Water Well site at Waverly. The artist selected by the Blenman Elm board to do the work is Maxie Adler. As you can see, this will be a significant addition to the new pocket park they recently finished. 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to us at the Ward 6 office if your neighborhood wants to explore some green stormwater infrastructure projects. The mural is an added benefit the BENA folks contracted.

ByFusion Blocks 

The neighbors and I are working with ByFusion on finalizing a few details for the design of the San Gabriel seat bench. Those include where the peek-a-boo opening to show the blocks will go, how that opening will be sealed, and cladding for the rest of the structure. And I’ve confirmed with Anita from Bottle Rocket that we’re good to go on her piece – the concrete bench that will be made using crushed glass. With all of that, construction docs are being produced.

For the El Pueblo Community Center trash enclosure, the contractor was given a Notice to Proceed on May 4^th. The due date is August 6^th. Since they’re using ByBlock, that’s a very generous construction window. It’s the first one the city is doing so giving some grace as we all learn together is fine.

Peter Howell is making some decisions on design for their ramada. We should have those in a couple of weeks and get started on pricing. And city staff has raised the idea of another seat bench made from ByBlock in another park. They’re getting construction cost estimates. I think this is work we need to partner with neighbors on, saving money while building ownership in the community. I’ve asked them for dimensions and will take that and get a competitive quote. It’s good to see some progress on this very environmentally sensitive building method.

Business Navigators

Last month we began hosting a once-per-month visit from our Economic Initiatives department that’s specifically geared towards answering questions from business operators. They’ll be in the Ward 6 meeting rooms every 4^th Thursday from 10am until 1pm. You do not need an appointment to take advantage of these opportunities.

Business navigators can help if you’re just getting a business started, answer questions about permitting and licensing, and can serve as a direct link into the various city departments that touch issues related to business operations within the city. We get calls regularly from businesses trying to navigate the system – now we’ll have a navigator on site to help with the process.

The next visit at Ward 6 will be on Thursday, May 26^th. If you have questions about your business operation ahead of that, please of course call or email us. But circle that date on your calendar if you want to come in and do a face-to-face. Oftentimes sitting down and talking through questions that have some complexity is a better way to get problems resolved.

We’re grateful to Barbra Coffee and her team for making themselves available for this outreach to the business community.

Changes to Bar and Restaurant Parking

For the second time in a month, we had a shooting at a downtown/midtown bar in the overnight hours. The first time a young guy was killed. This time there were multiple victims, all of whom are expected to recover. If you’re going out drinking, how about leaving your gun at home? Guns and alcohol are a pretty unhealthy combination.

With that as a lead-in, this week is our meeting with city staff to talk about their idea of allowing reduced parking at bars and restaurants. The reductions would come as the business expands to outdoor seating. Right now, bars and restaurants are specifically excluded from being able to request an individual parking plan. Staff is suggesting we might do away with that exclusion.

Some of the reasons the exclusion was put into the parking ordinance include the intensity of parking bars and restaurants generate, the fact that their patrons spend longer time in the establishment than for example an Ace Hardware customer, their hours of operation, and in the case of the entertainment district, proximity to residential areas where overflow parking would end up.

This is the language from the code that excludes bars and restaurants from requesting and IPP:

On the 26^th we’ll have our planning folks explain the history of that exemption, why it’s being proposed to change now, give some history on how often IPP’s are approved, and the process applicants for an Individual Parking Plan goes through.  These are details that are important for the community to understand – and they’re not being given appropriate focus in the current presentations of this topic.

We’ll have copies of the 4-page IPP application form on hand to help guide you through the discussion. And we’ll have a local liquor license attorney here to share his thoughts on what the city can and cannot require of applicants when they apply for the various forms of liquor license.

Here’s a Zoom link for the meeting in case you’re unable to take part in person.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81555628611?pwd=nWg3VqnVoiH-dujDCv0t900-1auRmx.1

Meeting ID: 815 5562 8611

Passcode: 1111

Reid Park Master Plan

The Reid Park Master Plan survey closes next week. If you haven’t already, please take 10 minutes online and share your thoughts on how you’d like to see the park evolve. There are links for both English and Spanish language surveys. The survey closes at midnight on May 31^st.

English (bit.ly/reidparkreimagined) or Spanish (bit.ly/reidparkreimaginedSP

On a somewhat related note, the city is having trouble filling our lifeguard positions. The hiring process is still open. Filling the slots will allow us to expand which pools are open, the hours pools are open, and uses such as recreational and lap swimming, lessons, and fitness classes.

To qualify as a lifeguard, you must be at least 15 years old and have your lifeguard certifications. You can apply online by going to www.Tucsonaz.gov/jobs. If you are interested but don’t yet have your lifeguard certification, call them at 791.4245 and the parks folks will walk you through that process.

Here’s the schedule showing which pools are open, and their hours of operation:

Proposition 411

Last week the voters approved Prop 411 by a 3-1 margin. It’s also worth noting that ¾ of the registered voters decided fixing the roads and offering new roadway safety measures wasn’t worth the time it takes to check a box and lick an envelope. But for those who participated, here are the results (still ‘unofficial’ but there’s no possibility the results will change when the election-day walk up is added.)

The extension of the ½ cent sales tax will generate roughly $600M over 10 years which will be used to repair residential streets, and an additional $150M over 10 years to implement roadway safety measures. Those will include things such as HAWK lights, lighting, protected bikeways, and that sort of thing.

A couple of take aways from the vote that are more nuanced than what the Proposition specifically calls for. One is that the city has now identified a funding source to address our residential road repair needs. The other is the RTA should take note of the significant level of support city of Tucson voters gave to this proposition. They should take note of that as they consider how to address the city’s role – if any – in RTA Next. The RTA continues to take the position that inflation-related costs are the jurisdiction’s obligation to pay for. That means they’re continuing to try to cost-shift millions of dollars in costs to the city. They also continue to marginalize our new Citizen Advisory Council members. They also continue to change policies randomly and give subcommittees the authority to decide which projects are going to be funded, and which are going to be put off until the RTA Next election. They’ve already identified one of our projects for RTA Next – and it’s the one we proposed design options that will save them money.

Prop 411 is the canary in the RTA’s coal mine. If they want city residents to support their upcoming package, they’d best start acting like they want those 72% who supported the Proposition to take part in the RTA election. Right now, it appears they’re walking back some of the commitments they made in January when we first walked up to our own line in the sand related to our participation in Next. There’s nothing stopping us from getting the stick out and drawing a new one.

COVID 

As will be made clear with the data below, COVID is back. It never left. We just assumed it was on its way out the door. All it did was get to the door, close it and is once again infecting the household. With that reality in mind, the White House is offering Americans 8 more in-home COVID tests. To order yours use this link:  covidtests.gov.

Cases nationwide have gone up by 57% in the past 14 days. Hospitalizations are up nearly 30%, and ICU beds are up 23%. The chatter that this is ‘only Omicron’ and so it’s just like a cold is simply false. I’d also add that I know of one flu case, 4 non-COVID illnesses and 3 COVID cases just among some of the people I know. Richard, Nikki, and I did our last council meeting virtually in order to limit our exposure.

Here’s how Arizona stacks up to the rest of the country. Our 14-day case increase if 84%. That’s one of the highest in the nation. It’s also worth noting that our vaccination rate is just 62%. That leaves 38% who are more prone to infection, more prone to spreading COVID, and more prone to being the host for yet another new variant. It’s as though we’ve stopped caring – COVID fatigue resulting in many of us just resuming pre-COVID lifestyles. Did you go to a graduation over the weekend? Bar hopping? Indoor restaurants or movies?

The Harvard Global Health Care risk level map is getting redder. From two weeks ago:

Compared to last week. And note that in last week’s newsletter I said Florida had not simply figured it all out – they had failed to report. Their green turned colors this week. Every area of the country appears to be headed to a new summer surge.

In Pima County our case counts have increased each of the past 4 weeks. That’s true statewide as well. I put this table together to show the increases week over week.

Those increases have moved Pima County perilously close to the high risk Red level once again. In last week’s newsletter I had us at 110 daily new cases per day on a 7-day average. That’s now 155.

The spread of flu infections got a bit worse nationwide last week. While Arizona is still in the green shades, we moved up the ladder in terms of infection rate just a bit. New Mexico and Colorado continue to be in bad shape, as do Florida and some of the cities in the northeast.

Here are the Pima County health department COVID testing centers for this week. It’s important to note that if you do a self-test and it comes up positive, please report that to Pima County health. When all of this began the county health folks were able to track infections because they were doing all the testing. Now that it’s spread out, the infection rate is more difficult to track and it’s very likely our numbers reflect an undercount.

And here are the Pima County health vaccination centers. No appointment is needed.

Here’s the current state map showing county by county COVID case counts dating back to the start of this in 2020.

Over 30,000 people in Arizona have died from COVID since this all started. Last week another 29 families in Arizona lost a loved one due to the virus. COVID vaccines and boosters don’t eliminate the illness, but all indicators point to it significantly mitigating the severity of the disease if you catch it.

Sincerely,

Steve Kozachik
Council Member, Ward 6
ward6@tucsonaz.gov

City of Tucson Resources

• COVID-19 Updates: https://www.tucsonaz.gov/covid-19/covid-19-updates
• I Want To... : https://www.tucsonaz.gov/i-want-to