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Video: Gov. says ‘Goal is to get children back to school when it’s safe’

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  • Lisa Irish   |   AZEdNews

Video: Gov. says ‘Goal is to get children back to school when it’s safe’

A Teacher Interacts With Students During Class In A Sacaton Elementary School District. Photo By Brooke Razo/ASBA

Click here for updates from July 10 onward

Updated July 9: When asked if in-person classes at schools will start on Aug. 17, Gov. Doug Ducey said during his COVID-19 news conference today, “Our goal is to get children back to school when it’s safe.”

On Tuesday, more than 600 school board members sent a letter to Gov. Ducey, Supt. of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman, and the Arizona Legislature asking them to delay the start of in-person classes at Arizona schools until October 1st, according to an Arizona Republic article.

Gov. Ducey said he will work closely with Supt. Hoffman and continue to seek input from school leaders on that.

“I said last week (Aug. 17) it’s an aspirational date. I’m listening to superintendents and our decisions are informed by that,” Gov. Ducey said.

“The goal is to educate our children in the safest and most effective way possible, and I’m going to continue to work with superintendents and parents on that,” Gov. Ducey said.

AZ Dept. Of Health Services: COVID-19 News Conference July 9, 2020

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 112,671 today from 108,614 yesterday, and 2,038 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 73,165 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 10,835 in Pima County, 7,899 in Yuma County, 4,150 in Navajo County, 5,156 in Pinal County, 2,520 in Apache County, 2,338 in Coconino County, 2,095 in Santa Cruz County, 1,595 in Mohave County, 1,037 in Yavapai County, 905 in Cochise County, 384 in La Paz County, 385 in Gila County, 180 in Graham County and 27 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-9-Summary-757x1024

“We are seeing some stabilization, but we need to see a decline across the state,” Gov. Ducey said. “Although we have made some progress on this in the past seven days, there is no county in Arizona no matter how rural or how sparsely populated has been spared.”

“In Arizona, our rapid increase was in June. Let’s compare that to the nation,” Gov. Ducey said. “In the United States, we were seeing a decrease through May and through June, when Arizona was seeing it’s rapid increase. What you see for the country in July is a rapid spiking and increase of these cases.”

“Ir’s possible that Arizona was the front of that wave of increases in these cases, and the actions that we’re taking can lead the way for our state to navigate forward,” Gov. Ducey said.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-9-Gov-News-Conference

Gov. Ducey says he hears the criticism and differing opinions on how Arizona has handled this virus.

Gov. Ducey said his decisions “will not be affected by politics in any way,” that “everything we will do going forward will be to promote and protect public health in Arizona.”

“I talked about protecting lives and protecting livelihoods, and when in doubt we will err on the side of protecting lives and proceed with caution,” Gov. Ducey said.

“Over the last two weeks, Arizona’s map looks a lot different than it did three weeks ago. So we are seeing better results, we need to see more but the actions that we took 10 days ago are making a difference. We need to increase this difference,” Gov. Ducey said.

Gov. Ducey said Dr. Deborah Birx told him that he needs to think about getting out of the zone the state is in right now as a two-to four-week event.

“There are continued sacrifices that are needed,” Gov. Ducey said.

“There really is nothing that you can do that will help more than staying at home,” Gov. Ducey said. “This idea of sacrificing is really a mindset.

“If you see it as helping other Arizonans, helping our state, helping our country, helping our health care workers, putting our kids in position where eventually they can return to school and that we can protect the maximum amount of people and protect the maximum amount of livelihoods, there is strength in numbers along with the informed actions we can take,” Gov. Ducey said.

The additional actions we’re going to take to slow the spread of COVID-19 are to reduce large group gatherings and places of higher risk, Gov. Ducey said.

Today there’s a new Executive Order to limit indoor dining to less than 50% of occupancy which is set by the fire code, Gov. Ducey said. The order was made with input from restaurant industry leaders, Gov. Ducey said.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-9-Gov-2

“We are launching Project Catapult to dramatically increase testing in Arizona,” Gov. Ducey said.

Project Catapult has AZ Dept. of Health Services partnering with Sonora Quest Laboratories and Euroimmun/PerkinElmer to expand processing capabilities of COVID-19 diagnostic tests. Under this partnership, Sonora Quest expects to increase processing capacity to 35,000 diagnostic tests per day by the end of July, and up to 60,000 tests per day by the end of August.

In addition, the AZ Dept. of Health Services is partnering with Arizona State University to provide saliva-based COVID-19 testing to Arizonans. The first drive-through site will be offered on Saturday, July 11 in the West Valley.

Individuals need to pre-register for an appointment. Additional sites and available dates will be added over the next couple of months. Through this partnership, ADHS has committed up to $12.7 million to fund the expansion of testing sites to serve up to 100,000 Arizonans.

Working with these private sector partners will help expand testing this month and next month, Gov. Ducey said.

Also, Arizona is working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and the Dept. of Health and Human Services to provide more testing, and the focus will be on Maryvale, and additional sites will be announced in upcoming days, Gov. Ducey said.

Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ said the new partnership will offer up to 5,000 free COVID-19 tests per day at sites in Maryvale and South Phoenix. The testing increase includes 12 days of surge testing, Dr. Christ said.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-9-Gov-3

Gov. Ducey urged people to stay home and told them it will “benefit the State of Arizona and will help us navigate through this.”

Gov. Ducey asked everyone to wear a mask.

“There is no better way to lighten the load than to put on a mask and slow the spread of the virus,” Gov. Ducey said.

“We are all going to be living with this virus for the forseeable future,” Gov. Ducey said.

Updated July 8: Arizona Supt. of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman said the White House Summit on Safely Reopening America’s Schools “did not reflect the magnitude or severity of Arizona’s growing public health crisis” with a rise in COVID-19 cases.

“While young students may be at lower risk for infection, the educators who make learning possible – including instructional aides, librarians, bus drivers, nutrition workers and more – are at risk, as are students with medical conditions,” Supt. Hoffman said.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 108,614 today from 105,094 yesterday, and 1,963 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 70,128 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 10,485 in Pima County, 7,775 in Yuma County, 4,089 in Navajo County, 4,959 in Pinal County, 2,499 in Apache County, 2,250 in Coconino County, 2,061 in Santa Cruz County, 1,509 in Mohave County, 1,016 in Yavapai County, 884 in Cochise County, 381 in La Paz County, 381 in Gila County, 179 in Graham County and 26 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-8-Summary-743x1024

Ballots for Maricopa County voters mail out today for the August 4 primary.

Reliable internet access is essential for Arizonas student sot succeed, the Greater Phoenix Chamber says.

Expect More Arizona says the goal is to reopen schools in a way that maximizes safety learning and the well-being of children, staff and teachers.

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College student athletes face uncertainty, health risks and racial issues and they’re back on campus now, says a KJZZ 91.5 FM article.

Gov. Doug Ducey said today that Special Olympics Arizona, a nonprofit that provides services to individuals with intellectual disabilities, including physical activity and competition programs, health screenings and art programs will receive $250,000 from the Crisis Contingency and Safety Net Fund, which was established in March by Arizona’s bipartisan state budget agreement to continue to engage individuals in virtual programming during COVID-19 and ensure proper mitigation efforts when in-person activities resume. 

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Hear what two superintendents say is planned when classes start this Fall on Arizona Horizon at 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. tonight on Arizona PBS.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 105,094 today from 101,441 yesterday, and 1,927 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 67,543 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 10,184 in Pima County, 7,599 in Yuma County, 4,015 in Navajo County, 4,792 in Pinal County, 2,471 in Apache County, 2,237 in Coconino County, 2,048 in Santa Cruz County, 1,448 in Mohave County, 969 in Yavapai County, 855 in Cochise County, 374 in La Paz County, 361 in Gila County, 172 in Graham County and 26 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-7-Summary-739x1024

Arizona charter and private schools were among recipients of emergency federal loans intended to help small businesses through the Paycheck Protection Program.

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Phoenix Union High School District’s Dr. Chad Gestson talks about their plan to launch a community-driven initiative on school safety that includes not renewing contracts for school resource officers on campus for the 2020-2021 school year and a participatory budget process for students, staff and parents for school safety initiatives to launch in the 2021-2022 school year.

The right of minors to be represented by attorneys was established in 1967 by In re Gault, a case from Arizona’s Gila County, but 53 years later, children across the nation still aren’t automatically provided their right to legal counsel, a Cronkite News story says.

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Hear what Dysart Unified School District is planning in response to parents’ and students’ preferences for the start of their school year Aug. 4.

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Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 101,441 today from 98,089 yesterday, and 1,810 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 64,915 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 9,873 in Pima County, 7,431 in Yuma County, 3,904 in Navajo County, 4,600 in Pinal County, 2,441 in Apache County, 2,190 in Coconino County, 2,002 in Santa Cruz County, 1,413 in Mohave County, 948 in Yavapai County, 826 in Cochise County, 371 in La Paz County, 349 in Gila County, 152 in Graham County and 26 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-6-Summary-739x1024

Maricopa County is making significant changes at the polls to protect voters’ health.

Black consumers are asked not to buy anything tomorrow to show the impact of their spending, learn more on Arizona Horizon at 5:30 and 10 p.m. tonight.

ICE told international students in the U.S. on students visas that if they are enrolled in online-only programs for the fall semester they must leave the country.

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Updated July 3: See how an elementary school and activist are teaming up to fight water shortages in Arizona tonight at 5:30 and 10 p.m. on Arizona Horizon.

Adult intensive care unit beds in use at Arizona hospitals rose to 91 percent yesterday, while confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 91,858 today from 87,425 yesterday, and 1,788 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 57,929 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 9,024 in Pima County, 6,824 in Yuma County, 3,817 in Navajo County, 4,139 in Pinal County, 2,418 in Apache County, 2,087 in Coconino County, 1,887 in Santa Cruz County, 1,342 in Mohave County, 861 in Yavapai County, 710 in Cochise County, 351 in La Paz County, 325 in Gila County, 125 in Graham County and 19 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-3-Summary-746x1024
/1279202225298878464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>July 3, 2020

Before using fireworks, please listen to these tips from Tucson Fire Department Chief Chuck Ryan on how to stay safe.

ASU Health hosts an interactive online camp for K-8 students to learn about health and nutrition, says Supt. of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman.

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Arizona activists share their favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes and how they apply to the fight to end racial injustice and police brutality in this Cronkite News article.

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Updated July 2: Many people waited in line for hours today for free drive-up COVID-19 testing at South Mountain Community College before being turned away after testing supplies ran out after 2 p.m.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 87,425 today from 84,092 yesterday, and 1,757 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 54,747 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 8,577 in Pima County, 6,663 in Yuma County, 3,744 in Navajo County, 3,908 in Pinal County, 2,405 in Apache County, 1,986 in Coconino County, 1,849 in Santa Cruz County, 1,248 in Mohave County, 814 in Yavapai County, 678 in Cochise County, 346 in La Paz County, 314 in Gila County, 117 in Graham County and 19 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-2-summary-737x1024

School staff have expressed concern about returning to the classroom when the number of COVID-19 cases is so high, said Chris Kotterman in an Arizona Capitol Times article.

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Updated July 1: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 84,092 today from 79,215 yesterday, and 1,720 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 52,266 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 8,387 in Pima County, 6,485 in Yuma County, 3,703 in Navajo County, 3,777 in Pinal County, 2,381 in Apache County, 1,941 in Coconino County, 1,802 in Santa Cruz County, 1,142 in Mohave County, 771 in Yavapai County, 657 in Cochise County, 345 in La Paz County, 309 in Gila County, 108 in Graham County and 18 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 7-1-Summary-751x1024

See why an official says Arizona should wait for a two-week drop in confirmed COVID-19 cases before re-opening schools in this Arizona Daily Star article.

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Arizona Education Association President Joe Thomas says in a letter to Supt, of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman suggests that ESSER funding under the CARES Act could be used to address school districts’ budgetary concerns and ensure timely pay for teachers in response to Gov. Ducey’s Executive Order delaying the start of in-person classes to Aug. 17.

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Updated June 30: Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 79,215 today from 74,533 yesterday, and 1,632 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

In Maricopa County, there are 48,492 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 8,004 in Pima County, 6,212 in Yuma County, 3,625 in Navajo County, 3,574 in Pinal County, 2,337 in Apache County, 1,885 in Coconino County, 1,771 in Santa Cruz County, 1,071 in Mohave County, 781 in Yavapai County, 614 in Cochise County, 342 in La Paz County, 292 in Gila County, 96 in Graham County and 18 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 6-30-Summary-765x1024

Nineteen Granite Mountain Hotshots died battling the Yarnell Hill Fire seven years ago today.

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Updated June 29: Gov. Doug Ducey announced an Executive Order to close gyms, bars, movie theaters, waterparks, and tubing for 30 days that taked effect at 8 p.m. tonight, because of the increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Click here to read Gov. Ducey’s Executive Order Pausing of Arizona’s Re-opening: Slowing the Spread of COVID-19.

There has been some backlash to the Executive Order.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in Arizona rose to 74,533 today from 73,908 yesterday, and 1,588 have died from the virus, said the Arizona Department of Health Services.

Arizona Dept. of Health Services: COVID-19 News Conference June 29, 2020

In Maricopa County, there are 45,178 confirmed cases of COVID-19, 7,568 in Pima County, 5,882 in Yuma County, 3,570 in Navajo County, 3,382 in Pinal County, 2,309 in Apache County, 1,850 in Coconino County, 1,717 in Santa Cruz County, 1,028 in Mohave County, 755 in Yavapai County, 580 in Cochise County, 332 in La Paz County, 271 in Gila County, 92 in Graham County and 18 in Greenlee County.

Video: Gov. says 'Goal is to get children back to school when it's safe' 6-29-Summary-738x1024

Earlier coverage

June 29: Video: Gov. delays in-person classes to Aug. 17 due to rise in COVID-19

Updates from June 15 – June 29: Video: Gov. pauses re-opening of some businesses as COVID-19 cases rise

June 24: Plan provides more funding, flexible instruction as schools re-open

Updates from May 26 – June 12: Increase in COVID-19 cases marks a new daily high

Updates from May 20 – 25: AZ Dept. of Ed releases COVID-19 guidance to schools for summer programs, back to school

Updates from May 11 – 19: Arizonans consider workplace safety, what back to school will look like amid COVID-19

Updates from April 26 – May 10: Stores re-open, COVID-19 testing blitz resumes on Saturday

Updates from April 8 – 25: You can get tested now if you think you’ve been exposed to COVID-19

Updates from March 12 – April 7: Coronavirus response: Cases rise; AZ Day of Giving

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