A Message from Steve K...12/19/2022

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Date: 12/19/2022

Topics in This Issue:

• UA Athletics Department Investigation

• Puppy Mills

• Weekend Events

• Midtown Apartments

• The Giving Machine

• Plastic Blocks

• Refugee Needs

• Storm 2 Shade 

• Gun Control and Youth

• Video Camera Registry

• Operation Freeze

• Senior Olympics

• Staying in Shape for Non-Seniors

• One Water 2100 Master Plan

• Reid Park Master Plan

• RSV, Flu and COVID Update

UA Athletics Department Investigation

Full disclosure – as I sit here writing this, I’m wearing a Xavier basketball T that Sean Miller sent to me. I like Sean and feel he was done a disservice by the current leadership in both the athletics department and in the UA president’s office. I worked there for 32 years and so may have a bit of a different perspective than some of the sports writers who have been covering the decision on sanctions handed down last week. You can google them in the Star.

Back in ‘20/’21 the UA self-imposed a 1-year post season ban on their basketball team. Star opinion writer Greg Hansen wrote a full column at the time calling it basically a fraud – the season was the COVID season, and any post season would be tainted by the restrictions placed on how the games were played. Plus, the UA was not expected to make a deep run-in post season anyway. Last week he called the self-imposed post season ban “wisely proactive.” That’s a convenient way to stay in the good graces of the current leadership. He should know that they’ll turn on him in a heartbeat the next time he’s critical.

The athletics director (AD) is Dave Heeke. The UA president is Bobby Robbins. During the beginning of the basketball investigation, it was widely reported in the media that the preliminary reports said Heeke and Robbins had ‘compromised the integrity of the investigation.’ And they had drafted ‘talking points’ that ‘demonstrated from the outset a lack of commitment to cooperation and the acceptance of responsibility.’ This was all happening just as the UA athletics department had a football player serving time for assault, a track coach serving time for domestic abuse issues on a former student-athlete, the swimming program was under investigation, the track program was under investigation – and of course the men’s basketball issues. Not only did they ‘compromise the integrity of the investigation,’ they were knee-deep in multiple compliance scandals at the same time. That is what the NCAA generally calls a ‘lack of institutional controls.’

The lay of the land in the athletics department is the compliance office sits directly across the hall from the AD’s office. It’s a 30-second walk when one is summoned. During the multiple investigations that hallway was a well-worn path. If the institution was serious about compliance-related issues, the athletics compliance staff would be located in a completely neutral building, and they would not answer directly to the athletics director or to the UA president. Quite to the contrary at the UA. And that change isn’t likely to happen under the watch of Heeke and Robbins.

I was sorry to see Sean leave under the circumstances that prevailed. The report indicated that it was clear since it took a 2-year FBI investigation to get to the bottom of what happened that Coach Miller had no way of knowing 2 of his coaches had gone rogue. It wasn’t the coach who compromised the investigation. And yet the 2 guys named as having done that are still there, getting contract extensions and raises by the Arizona Board of Regents.

Puppy Mills

In late 2015 I began working with several local animal-loving groups on crafting a local puppy mill ordinance. The intent was to ban retail sales of puppies unless they were sourced from shelters. Puppy mills over-breed females to the point that many die from the stress. The offspring are kept by the hundreds in unsanitary and inhumane conditions. Here’s one example – sadly among many nationwide.

We had the ordinance adopted but at the time we passed it the city of Phoenix had a very similar one on the books that were being challenged in court. The owner of their retail store, Frank Mineo also owned a retail pet store in Tucson. He was making a full-court press to get the state to disallow local ordinances. He lobbied hard enough and the state ended up passing a pre-emption bill that Ducey signed in 2016. Our puppy mill ordinance could not go into effect.

The bill crafted by Mineo and his puppy mill supporters in the state legislature did include some requirements for retail stores if they were to sell dogs. Those include posting a clear label on each cage that identifies where the dog was sourced from. I continue to work closely with animal rights advocates both here in Tucson and up in Phoenix. They are out regularly monitoring pet stores to assure compliance.

Back in 2020 the group I’ve been involved with met several times, trying to get the attention of law enforcement both in Tucson and in Phoenix about what we suspected were clear violations of the state statute. It didn’t rise to any level of importance to local law enforcement, so I asked some Tucson constables to help by traveling to Phoenix and securing documents at one of their stores. Long story short – they got documents but since they were ‘out of their jurisdiction’ I couldn’t use any of the information. While all of that was going on advocates from both Tucson and Phoenix continued pestering the AG’s office, trying to alert them to the clear violations. All of that work finally bore fruit last week when AG Brnovich issued a complaint through his consumer fraud division against Companion Pets, Inc – the controlling arm for both online sales and sales at retail stores such as Puppies ‘N Love and Animal Kingdom.

The complaint calls them out for selling dogs that are sourced from out-of-state puppy mills. In total, they’ve been selling about 6,000 dogs per year, and they go for around $2,000 each. Even Brnovich’s Release said of CPI “It gets most of its dogs through out-of-state breeders and brokers.” Many of us told them that 3 years ago. But we’re pleased to finally get this acted on.

The state will require CPI to pay $120,000 which will be used for restitution to customers who have been affected by their sourcing practices. To qualify for the restitution you must have (a) purchased a puppy from an Animal Kingdom or Puppies ‘N Love store – or from https://www.animalkingdomaz.com/ online – between January 1^st, 2017 and December 31^st, 2022; (b) that you made the purchase in Arizona, or were living in Arizona at the time of the purchase, (c) and that you file a complaint with the Attorney General’s office within 120 days after the court signs the order. That’s expected to happen around mid-April 2023. Your complaint will need to detail any false promises, misrepresentations or unfair acts or practices related to the CPI transaction. Not posting the true sourcing of the purchased pet is one example.

In addition, CPI stores will be compelled to finally comply with state law on letting the public know where they get their dogs. That will include:

If you’re looking for a new furry family member this holiday season, please give very serious consideration to any of the local shelters before going to a retail store. And if you do get a new pet, please spay or neuter the animal as soon as it’s old enough to tolerate the procedure.

I’m grateful to the many animal lovers who have stuck with this investigation over the past few years. Just as was true in our finally getting Tucson Greyhound Park shut down, these things sadly take more time and effort than they should. Hopefully, the new state legislature and the governor will rescind the state pre-emption so our local puppy mill ordinance can be resurrected.

Here’s a link to the Star story Carol Ann Alaimo wrote for the Sunday paper: 

https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/tucson-pet-stores-skirt-consumer-protection-laws-complaints-say/article_df53dd00-7b20-11ed-9655-633b897cd25b.html#tracking-source=home-the-latest

Weekend Events

Nikki, Kevin and Lane – plus several of their staffers and family members joined Dora, her husband and me riding Tugo’s in the Saturday night Parade of Lights downtown. There were several thousand people lining the streets around Armory Park and the Children’s Museum for the event. The Downtown Tucson Partnership has done a great job in lighting up the downtown area. Take some time with out-of-town visitors and support some of our local businesses this holiday season.

On Saturday morning Dora joined the San Gabriel residents as they put the finishing touches on the pocket park where we installed the ByBlock plastic bench a couple of months ago. It’s great to see neighbors out working with neighbors in support of beautifying the city. The bench was looking a little lonely before the Sunday morning work – thanks to all, and to Tucson Clean & Beautiful and the city Storm 2 Shade program for their help in this effort.

Midtown Apartments

For the past few weeks – right as temperatures began to dip into the 30’s at night – the Midtown Apartments on Seneca had their gas shut off. That has meant no heat for room heating, water for bathing or washing dishes, or cooking with the gas stoves that are in the apartments. Some of the residents have had to resort to using little electric space heaters – others cooking on small electric hot plates. None have had hot water.

The issue was gas lines running from the main SWGas trunk line into the apartments that had been allowed to fall into such disrepair that they had to be shut down for safety reasons. The responsibility for repairs falls to the landlord, not to the utility. And the body that has the authority to allow the gas to be turned back on is the Arizona Corporation Commission. SWG is caught in the middle.

Residents have tried working with the management but have had no success. I’ve reached out to management as well and since Saturday evening have been waiting for a reply. I’m grateful to Shelle Jackson and KVOA for picking up the story – shining some light on the culpability of management and hopefully joining in shaming them into finally acting on the issue. Here’s a link to Shelle’s piece.

https://www.kvoa.com/news/midtown-apartment-complex-without-gas-for-more-than-two-weeks/article_d4512bc8-7e73-11ed-9789-1b54282bf7bd.html

One of the reasons the management likely feels invulnerable to calls from their tenants is that many of the tenants are Afghan refugees. Or refugees generally. My experience with that group is they either are not fully familiar with their rights under the law, or they don’t want to take a chance of losing their apartment by making an issue of problems. They’re being exploited by an unconcerned management team who has slow-walked the repairs. In fact, the pipes should never have been allowed to get to such a poor condition that they needed to be shut down – especially in the middle of December.

SWG continues to work with the ACC on getting an inspection of the property so service can be restored. Last week they were able to isolate one pipe so some of the apartments have space heating – but that’s all. Under the state landlord/tenant act every one of the tenants has the right to seek alternative accommodations and to deduct the cost from their rent. I’ve let them know that they should not do that without first letting the management know they’re going to – giving management a chance to cure the deficiency. It’s sad that people continue to be exploited like this – and with the rents, people are paying one would think the customer service they receive would be top-drawer. Instead, it more closely resembles a broken-down buried gas pipe.

The Giving Machine

On Saturday Ann represented the ward 6 team at the Giving Machine event out at Park Place Mall. It’s a very cool twist on vending machines that’s sponsored by the Mormon Church. The gifts people give are donated on a non-sectarian basis touching all sorts of needs.

Do you want to donate farm animals to a rural family, school supplies to youth in need, meals for homeless shelters, sporting equipment for kids – the options are all over the map, and the choice of amount and type of gift is totally up to you. It’s a vending machine – the only difference with this one is you’re giving to people in need and not buying candy for yourself.

We were pleased to find that the local Giving Machine was focused on several groups with whom we’ve been working pretty much ever since I started in the office back in 2009. Casa Alitas, Sister Jose, the Community Food Bank, Interfaith Community Services, the International Rescue Committee, and more. Ann made an across-the-board donation (called ‘running the table’) but we’d love it if you’d be able to stop by and choose any of the very deserving programs to support during this holiday season. Since they began this in 2017, they’ve raised over $15M at the 28 ‘machines’ that are scattered around the country.

We’re proud to be associated with the work, proud to be associated with the many organizations they’re supporting, and we’re grateful to Renee Sowards from the LDS church for the invitation to take part in their Tucson kick-off.

Plastic Blocks

You have probably seen the return of the holiday star video by now – in case you missed it here you go. Be sure to crank up the audio -

Grinch and Cindy Loo Who save Christmas.mp4

So, the tree is back whole, star on top and all lit up. We’ve had lots of people stopping by in the evening taking their selfies in front of the tree. We think that’s great – come on by. It’d make a cool holiday card to send out. We’ve got a sign on the side of the tree telling its story – the amount of plastic diverted from the landfill. Our partners at ByFusion provided me with a time-lapse of the community building the holiday tree – before the grinch ripped off the star. Here’s their video – 30 minutes of work shrink-wrapped down into 60 seconds.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10Zzgl9gVPPv0my_YE5w5hDBkLUAFogRw/view

What we’re doing is our small part to address what is an international pollution issue. Across the pond in the United Kingdom, they’ve been holding public outreach regarding a plan to prohibit the use of single-use plastic items. Just ban them. That’s single use forks, spoons, plates, tablecloths, straws, stirrers, cotton swabs – in fact some of those items were banned in the UK back in 2020. Now they’re talking about expanding the list and requiring the use of only biodegradable alternatives. Scotland imposed the ban earlier this year, and Wales approved it to begin in 2023.

CNN reported that every year over 4 billion single-use cutlery items and over a billion plates are used in England alone. Less than 10% of it gets recycled. Internationally over 331 million tons of plastic waste is produced annually with the same roughly 10% getting recycled. The stuff sticks around for years contaminating the environment. That’s what we’re playing a role in addressing. Most plastic is produced using fossil fuels. Consider that each trip you make to our roll-off to toss in your plastic, you’re being a part of a global solution.

Here’s this week’s program update. With 2 full weeks left I’m sure we’re going to surpass 35 tons collected. That’s a testimonial to the community for their engagement with this project. And we hit 1,500 people having signed up for ByFusion updates. That’s 3x what we had set as a goal.

I’ll be meeting with the city manager’s office, ByFusion and others later this week to continue the discussion about how this program continues, scales up and gets us the ability to manufacture the blocks locally. It’ll happen – we're working on the details.

Our focus is on using your plastic for construction-grade blocks. I’ve shared several pictures of city projects we’ve already completed. Those will increase in number and in complexity once we kick off the larger program. In New York City they’re using granulated plastic as a filler in their asphalt mix. I’ve asked our transportation people their thoughts on that as a possible use. In NYC they’re still studying the process to see how it compares in terms of cost and durability. So far, they’ve got about 2,400 tons in testing. That’s over 200,000 plastic bottles saved from the landfill. Each week I add a new angle on plastic and its impacts, and possible uses. We’re close to making decisions on how we scale up our pilot program.

Refugee Needs

Above I shared about the story I did with Shelle Jackson from KVOA about an apartment complex that has been without gas for weeks. That means no heat and no hot water. It’s 30 degrees outside at night. The landlord failed to maintain their gas lines, the result being that for weeks they’ve had their gas supply turned off. Why do I include this in the Refugee section? Because many of the families in the apartment complex are Afghan families who don’t know their rights under the state Landlord/Tenant Act, and who are afraid to make an issue with the landlord for fear of losing their apartment. So, they watch the news reports of Taliban cutting off heat in Kabul and they’re all hovering around a little space heater in Tucson. I’m grateful to Shelle for working on the story.

The blankets you bring are going to good causes such as the one I just described. Given the temperatures outside and the level of need in the community we will continue collecting blankets beyond the end of the calendar year. In addition, we’ll keep taking the hygiene items and kids toys you’ve been bringing. The Alitas Center is getting slammed with increased numbers of guests – up to 500 per day, and if the Trump Title 42 COVID policy is lifted those numbers can escalate considerably.

NEW - See Specifics below: 

New and unopened underwear, (men’s - sizes small & medium only, women’s sizes small & medium only and children’s), new socks, personal hygiene products. That’s shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, lotion, toothpaste, feminine products, soap – that sort of thing. New children’s toys, bath towels only (washed) and blankets (no sheets).

NO CLOTHING PLEASE. Just the items listed. We’re located at 3202 E. 1^st Street – across Speedway from the Loft. Our office is open until 1 pm every weekday. We appreciate the responsiveness of the community.

Of course, the Community Food Bank collection box at our front entry is being filled and emptied pretty regularly. Especially as we enter the holidays the CFB is stretched thin in terms of what they are being called on to provide in support of the community. Your donations are an important part of meeting the growing needs. All non-perishable foods are in need.

Having been in direct contact with many of the families who benefit from your donations I can tell you without hesitation that the people receiving from you continue to be very grateful for your graciousness.

Thank you to all of you who are helping meet these ongoing needs in the community.

Storm 2 Shade

In 2020, just as COVID started changing our lives, M&C adopted what was then conceived as a pilot program called Storm to Shade. Using green stormwater infrastructure projects, the goal was to capture water runoff and divert it into our rights of way – creating more tree canopy and other landscape amenities for the community to enjoy. Like this -

Since the program began, we’ve all been paying about $1 per month on our water bills to fund the projects. The money is evenly distributed to projects across the city. In ward 6 you can think of the work done on the Treat Street bike boulevard and all of the landscaping at the ward office as two of our more recent projects. Many more are in the queue. In addition, maintenance of all the city GSI work is funded by the fee. I’ve got copies of the pocket guide to GSI maintenance at the ward 6 office if you’d like to pop over and get one.

On Tuesday we’ll be considering whether or not to keep the program going beyond it’s June 30^th, 2023 sunset date. I’ll be a solid yes on making this a regular ongoing program for the city. You can go online and see the full review of projects the program has either completed, or that are in design. There are half dozen local contractors set up for maintenance. This is not only a program that’s beneficial to the environment but adds to our initiatives on water security and is a job creator in our local economy.

Gun Control and Youth

By far and away the U.S. leads the world in watching our youth lose their lives due to gun violence. We have more guns on the street than we have a national population. Access is far too easy. These data only paint the picture of our reality – they don’t get into the politics behind our lax gun laws.

Guns are now the #1 cause of death among children and teens in the U.S. It’s ahead of congenital disease, car crashes and all other forms of injuries our youth suffer. In the other rich countries cited in the graph shown above gun deaths aren’t even in the top 4 causes of death. In the U.S. we account for 97% of the gun-related deaths among youth in comparison to those other countries. We’re less than ½ of the group’s overall population. Again, that’s just data, not politics.

This Kaiser Foundation graph shows the various causes of death among kids, comparing the U.S. with other wealthy developed countries. Yes, kids die from gun violence in other countries. It’s just that we lead the pack, and nobody is about to pass us.

Why do I keep thumping this tub? There are a couple of guys who write and tell me I should ‘stick to ward 6 issues’ in the newsletter. Gun violence is not only a ward 6 issue, it’s one that is impacting our entire country. TPD deals with it daily. That means families in our community do as well.

We just watched the mid-term election end. Some of the talks are about an opportunity for more comprehensive and rational gun laws. A civilian doesn’t need a semi-automatic long gun that can kill hundreds of people in minutes. That being the case, neither does a kid.

It is only a matter of time – a short time – before we’re watching the reports of another mass shooting. Will it be in a school (last week was the 10-year anniversary of Sandy Hook,) a movie theater, a nightclub, grocery store, church or synagogue – if you care about this issue, please contact your newly elected leadership in D.C. and let them know it’s way past time for decisive action. If they continue to fail us, we’ll only see more of this:

Last week President Biden said we all suffer ‘societal guilt’ over not having addressed the gun issue in a more significant way. ‘Society’ is the victim – not the guilty party. Congress is the one that needs to act. It’s long overdue.

Finally on guns – a friend and I have been working on how to curb the instances of straw purchases in Pima County.  A ‘straw purchase’ is where one person buys a gun and gives it to another person who’s a prohibited possessor. We’ve learned through the Pima County Attorney’s Office that in the past 2 full years (‘20 and ‘21) not a single person has been charged with or prosecuted for violating ARS 13-3102 as it applies to the illegal transfer of firearms to prohibited possessors. That either means it never happens, or that we don’t have the resources in place to catch it and prosecute it. I’ve spoken to gun store owners – they see it happen all the time. It’s a clear sign that we need to up our game.

Video Camera Registry

TPD has set up a registry for video cameras. It’s a completely voluntary program that will simply give the police a listing of who has video. If a crime occurs around your home or business and you’re on the registry, TPD will contact you and ask for permission to look at footage from your system. You are not obligated to consent – and by doing so you are not in any way acting as an agent of the city.

Right now, what happens is TPD has to actively search for video evidence when a crime takes place. The voluntary registry will help them expedite that search. It is important to note that by signing up for the registry, TPD will not have access to your camera system. All that will happen is that they’ll know it exists in case they need it in investigating a crime in your neighborhood.

This is really a force extender for the police. We are always hiring more officers, and the reality is that we’ll very likely be chasing our ‘fully staffed’ goal for years. Every major police agency in the country is facing the same issue. So, any opportunity we have to assist in their work is important. If you’ve got a Ring camera on your front door, video pointing to your alley – any pictures are welcome. And to reiterate – just by signing up you are not required to provide any footage.

Please use either of these links to learn more about the program, and to sign up. Both residential and commercial systems are welcome in the program.

https://arcg.is/0TKeiP

or

https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/a8018e7363954c28844ca40f13b69159

Operation Freeze

Having grown up in Michigan I’m very familiar with the phenomenon of ice forming on the bridge surface. Why does that happen, even when there’s no ice on the adjacent roadway? Test your kids with this – simply put, bridges are surrounded by air on all sides. The roadway has the ground underneath which can provide some level of heating for the surface. A bridge gets the frigid air on all sides and so tends to ice up. Even in Tucson the science works. Our transportation department passed that class and is gearing up for Operation Freeze.

During Operation Freeze you’ll be seeing “Wet Road Ahead” signs at bridge entrances. Our transportation crews will be spraying magnesium chloride on the bridge to help prevent ice from forming. It’s an effective ice suppressant that lasts for about 10 days and does not have any negative impacts on our ground water. There are about 50 city bridges that’ll get this treatment. Please be cautious when crossing bridges when the temps are low – and be on the lookout for city workers who may be on and around the bridge doing the Operation Freeze work.

Senior Olympics

Reminder that registration has begun for the Senior Olympics being hosted by Tucson Parks and being supported by United Healthcare. It’ll be our 38^th annual Senior Olympic event. It’s open to anybody who’s 50 years or older – which seems like a total unfair advantage for the ‘kids’ who are just turning 50. But that’s the rule, so we’ll roll with it.

There will be over 20 different venues for the activities, and there are about 100 events included. They’ll take place between January 7^th and 28^th. The deadline to register is December 30^th, so if you’re interested please get online and sign up. Here’s a link that’ll take you to the site for both choosing events and getting registered:  EZEEreg.com

This is the largest organized senior activity held in Tucson. We expect to have over 2,000 participants. It’d be great if you or the seniors in your family find a spot(s) and take part. If you need more information, please reach out to Joe Stubbins or Debra Henley at 520.791.4931.

Staying in Shape for Non-Seniors

Our friends at Run Tucson have posted their 2023 event calendar. There’s something in it for everyone. Short 5K’s up to a few half-marathons that you can use as training for your 26.2 miler. Start slowly – don't overdo the training or an injury will set you back. If you’re not an experienced runner Run Tucson has some coaching available too. Use this link to find the details on all of their races:  Run Tucson

I won’t list their full calendar, but here are a few to get you into the planning/training mental place:

• TMC Old Tucson Trail Run: January or February.
• TMC Earth Day 5k: at the Biosphere 2 on Saturday, April 22nd
• TMC Meet Me Downtown 5k Night Run: Saturday night, May 27th, during Memorial Day Weekend
• Saguaro National Park Labor Day Run: partnering with the Southern Arizona Roadrunners - the 52nd Saguaro Labor Day 8-Miler and 5k
• TMC Tucson 10k: Sunday, September 10th.
• TMC Get Moving Tucson: TMC A-Mountain Half-Marathon on Sunday, October 22nd,

If you’d like to sign up for some training and coaching programs, use these links. The programs will start on Thursday, January 5^th. The Workout Group meets at Reid Park on Tuesday & Thursday evenings at 6:00 pm and T/TH mornings at 5:30 AM at the Rillito Fields. For online individual coaching or to join Workout Group, please contact tia@runtucson.net.

One Water 2100 Master Plan

Tucson Water is continuing to take input on our ‘One Water 2100’ master plan. It’s the city’s outreach to gather public input on what our long-range water security planning should include. What we know is that continuing on the same path isn’t going to end well. We need more conservation – not only in Tucson, but across the 7 basin states that are pulling water from the Colorado River. But acting locally is our part.

The survey is asking for input on both supply and conservation. Please take a few minutes and complete the survey – and share the link with family and friends. The more input we get, the more robust will be the data sets we can work from. And when you go to the site, you’ll be able to see a quick summary of what ‘one water’ is all about – in brief, it says that regardless of the source, we need to treat the water as the scarce commodity that it is. Here’s the link – the survey will close on January 31^st.

Take the survey and learn more Tucson Water

Reid Park Master Plan

While you’ve got until the end of January for the One Water survey, the Reid Park master plan survey will close tonight. You still have time to share your thoughts on what a reimagined Reid Park could look like.

A couple of things are pretty clear so far. One is that people want more ramada space – more opportunities for family gatherings. In addition, we’re hearing you about upgrades to the DeMeester performance amphitheater. Groups such as The Tucson Pop’s will benefit – which means the whole community will. And the 4-plex ‘quad’ baseball fields will be left intact. Upgrades to that baseball complex have been identified. What’s not so clear is the funding for that work, or for much of the other additions we’re hearing about in the survey. The goal is to identify what the public is after. Slotting those desires into various funding sources is the next step.

There’s also new talk about providing more green space by including the golf courses in this conversation. I’ve suggested the importance of including OB Sports – our golf management contractor – into this part of the conversation. They’ll certainly have thoughts on how we slice up the golf course, and thoughts on the viability of turning one of the courses into a permanent 9-hole offering. The city runs 5 golf courses. The one’s at Reid Park are the only 2 that make money. It will be difficult to convenience me that impacting those courses for open space is going to be something I’ll support if it begins to cut into the viability of either or both of the existing courses.

Please go to the Parks website and spend a few minutes responding to questions related to how Reid Park will evolve. Here’s a link:  website (bit.ly/reidparkreimagined)

RSV, Flu and COVID Update

This is the RSV detection data for the state of Arizona for the dates shown on the left-hand column of the chart:

Compare them to the past few weeks’ data:

RSV is one of the 3 respiratory illnesses that is going around the city, county, state and nation. Tucson doesn’t get a pass. Please respect the hard data and take precautions to prevent getting and/or spreading this illness. I heard one news report over the weekend that suggested RSV may have ‘peaked.’ If the last two weeks’ data in the chart continue downward, that might be true. But the infection rate is still very high, so please keep that in mind.

How about the flu? Here’s this week’s national flu infection map. There is no safe hideout from the ‘22 flu season. There’s no place in the country that’s safe from the flu right now. Vaccines are easily available at all major pharmacies.

If you have a meeting scheduled in the ward office and you’re experiencing any symptoms, please call and reschedule. And we are recommending that groups using our facility self-regulate and ask attendees to wear a mask. We have them available all the time on the table by our office entryway.

In last week’s newsletter I rhetorically asked the question ‘who gets RSV?’ The answer is that everybody is vulnerable, but especially kids and seniors. That same thing is true of the flu. If you haven’t been vaccinated yet for the flu, now’s as good a time as any. Major pharmacies have flu vaccines on hand.

Each year, it is estimated that between 60,000-120,000 older adults in the United States are hospitalized and 6,000-10,000 of them die due to RSV infection. Adults at highest risk for severe RSV infection include older adults, especially those 65 years and older. Adults with chronic heart or lung disease.

What about our old friend COVID? Case counts in both Pima County and throughout the state of Arizona have been increasing weekly over the past several weeks. Last week both dropped a bit, but fatalities increased by quite a bit over previous weeks. Here’s the case count data I’ve been keeping:

Those new cases included 24 Pima County deaths and 107 COVID deaths statewide. It’s not ‘just like a bad cold’ for many people who get it.

You see the news. Hospitals are full again, not just with COVID patients, but with people suffering from the flu and other respiratory ailments.

Here’s the statewide COVID count map by county.

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