COVID-19 cases: 209,907 | Deaths: 5,371
Arizona reported 695 new COVID-19 cases and 27 deaths on Sept. 16. Genomics researchers were unlocking new insights into the novel coronavirus' spread in the Arizona, including the finding that the state's first case was isolated and not associated with further spread in the state. Meanwhile, President Trump openly contradicted top government health experts on the timeline for a vaccine.
Pima Board of Supervisors supports Pascua Yaqui early voting site
AZPM
The Pima County Board of Supervisors joined Pascua Yaqui tribal leaders and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero in supporting the tribe's efforts to regain its early voting site.
Tuesday the board passed a resolution authorizing additional early voting, ballot drop-off, and emergency voting sites in the Pascua Yaqui reservation for the upcoming election.
Supervisor Betty Villegas of District 5 said, according to ARS statute 16-411, the resolution can only impact emergency voting centers, but she said she hopes the Pima County Recorder's Office will establish an early voting site, as well.
Pascua Yaqui Tribal Council member Andrea Gonzales called the resolution a "humongous victory."
Pima County tops 600,000 registered voters
AZPM
Pima County has more registered voters than ever before. The Pima County Recorder’s office reported 602,697 people are registered to vote in the county.
In November 2016, 543,509 people were registered to vote in the presidential election.
Democrats are the largest voting bloc in the county with 244,000 voters, Republicans are second with 177,000 and "no party" or "other" is third with 175,000. Libertarians and Greens also have a combined 5,600 registered voters in the county.
The last day to register for this year’s general election is Oct. 5. Early ballots go out two days later.
Arizona researchers dive into novel coronavirus
AZPM
A group of researchers from the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and T-Gen, a genomics research institute, have spent months working to unlock the novel coronavirus in Arizona.
The first case of COVID-19 in Arizona was in January. The person was affiliated with ASU and had recently returned from Wuhan, China.
The research done by the group shows, for Arizona, that was an isolated case.
“This patient isolated for 14 days, recovered fully, there was no evidence of any transmission events from this patient,” said Brendan Larsen, a member of the research team from the University of Arizona.
Genome study finds 11 early sources for COVID-19 in Arizona
AP
PHOENIX — A new study finds that at least 11 people infected with COVID-19 traveled to Arizona and passed the disease to others.
Those infections started local transmission chains that seeded the state's earliest coronavirus outbreaks starting in mid-February. Researchers from the Translational Genomics Research Institute and Arizona's three universities reached that conclusion as part of an extensive effort to sequence the genomes of virus samples. They found that 80% of infections in the early phase of the outbreak stemmed from those 11 people.
They also determined that a person who became Arizona's first case of COVID-19 after traveling in China did not infect anybody else after he was isolated.
Trump disputes health officials, sees mass vaccinations soon
AP
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump openly contradicted the government’s top health experts on Wednesday, predicting a safe and effective vaccine against the coronavirus could be ready as early as next month and in mass distribution soon after.
That undermined the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, whom Trump called “confused” in projecting a longer time frame. Trump also disagreed with Dr. Robert Redfield about the effectiveness of protective masks — which the president recommends but almost never wears — and said he’d telephoned Redfield to tell him so.
Earlier in the day, the CDC sent all 50 states a “playbook” for distributing vaccine to all Americans free of charge, assuming one can be proven safe and effective.
Supervisor questions county ban on employee contributions
AZPM
A Pima County Supervisor is raising objections about the county's policy against employees giving money to county candidates. Republican Ally Miller shared a copy of training materials given to county employees at Tuesday's Board meeting, highlighting a section that forbids county workers from making donations to candidates for county office. "They're taxpayers too. They live in this community. They should have the opportunity to support the candidate they want. I don't see how this isn't unconstitutional," Miller said.
Deputy County Attorney Andrew Flagg said the prohibition doesn't come with any consequences for employees, and only applies to contributions of money.
Trump campaign in Arizona push with 4 visits this week
AP
PHOENIX — President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is making it clear that Arizona is truly a battleground state.
The president, vice president and his wife and the president’s daughter all scheduling stops this week. Trump’s visit to Phoenix for a rally of Latino voters Monday was followed Wednesday by a stop by daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump. Vice President Mike Pence has two events planned Friday, while Karen Pence is set to visit Tucson on Thursday. Arizona hasn’t voted for a Democrat for president since 1996 but Republicans are taking seriously polling that shows Democrat Joe Biden with a slight lead
Arizona pushes flu vaccinations to avert flu-and-COVID-19 ‘perfect storm’
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Just over two in five Arizona adults got a flu shot last year, a number state officials are desperate to improve on before the onset of both influenza and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic this fall.
State officials late last month announced plans to increase Medicaid funding for flu shots, let some pharmacists administer the shots and make them available along with COVID-19 testing in an effort to head off a surge on hospitalizations from one or both of the viruses.
“The purpose for having a concerted effort to get people vaccinated is to ensure that we don’t run into a situation like July where we were over capacity in our hospital system,” said Will Humble, executive director for the Arizona Public Health Association.
But Arizona's track record on vaccinations lags. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show that 45.3% of U.S. adults age 18 and up got flu shots during the 2018-2019 season, compared to just 42.6% for Arizona adults.
Feds: Over 60 immigrants arrested at 2 Phoenix-area homes
AP
PHOENIX — Federal authorities say they arrested over 60 immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally while serving drug-related search warrants at two Phoenix-area homes.
The DEA says about 50 people were arrested at home in Phoenix while a law enforcement task force that includes the Border Patrol executed a search warrant. Another 10 to 15 people were also taken into custody at a home in Chandler. Footage taken by local TV station Azfamily.com shows several dozen people sitting in an alleyway outside a home in west Phoenix.
Police have not said what led to the investigation or whether other suspects were arrested.
APS extends disconnect moratorium through end of year
AP
PHOENIX — Arizona’s largest electric utility is extending a moratorium on service disconnections because of the coronavirus pandemic though the end of 2020.
Arizona Public Service announced the policy change on Tuesday. A disconnect moratorium the utility put in place on March 15 was automatically extended by state policy on warm-weather shutoffs for residential customers on June 1.
APS voluntarily extended that to business customers. That disconnect hold was to expire Oct. 15 but now will go through Dec. 31. The company has payment plans and financial assistance available.
Excessive heat warning, pollution advisory for metro Phoenix
AP
PHOENIX — The National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for Thursday in the Phoenix metropolitan area.
In addition, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has issued a high pollution advisory for ozone. The Phoenix metro area is expected to see a high Thursday of 109 degrees, which would break the record for the date set in 1962.
Phoenix already has had the hottest meteorological summer on record. Between June and August, meteorologists said Phoenix had 50 days with a high temperature of at least 110 degrees. That topped the previous mark of 33 days set in 2011.
Fed sees rates near zero through 2023, perhaps longer
AP
WASHINGTON — With the economy still struggling to recover from the pandemic recession, Federal Reserve policymakers signaled Wednesday that their benchmark short-term interest rate will likely remain at zero at least through 2023 and probably even longer.
Fed chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference that while the economy has rebounded more quickly than expected, the job market is still hurting and the outlook is uncertain. The unemployment rate has fallen steadily since the spring but is still 8.4%. Powell also reiterated his support for more spending by Congress to help the economy recover.
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