Despite Gov. Ducey’s executive order that phases out local mask mandates, some local governments like Pima County and the city of Tucson have announced they will not comply and will keep their masking rules in place. The University of Arizona took similar actions and said its COVID-19 mitigation policies, including mask requirements, will remain in effect. It comes as the university prepares to increase in-person class sizes to 100 students. We discussed how public health will remain a priority with Dr. Richard Carmona. The former U.S. Surgeon General is tasked with overseeing the UA’s COVID response.
As face coverings go from being a requirement to a recommendation in some places, that can potentially give rise to confrontation. How people communicate their differences can take many forms. To understand more about messaging around masks we turned to Bradley Adame, an associate professor at Arizona State University’s Hugh Downs School of Human Communications whose expertise includes health communication.
After closing its doors for months at a time because of the pandemic, the Children’s Museum recently welcomed back families at its facilities in Tucson and Oro Valley. Tony Paniagua visited the Tucson museum to see how operations have adapted.
Travel restrictions between the U.S. and Mexico, already in place for over a year, will remain in effect through April 21. The latest data from the Bureau of Transportation shows that in December traffic at Arizona’s ports of entries was down by half compared to the year before. Fewer visitors translates into lost revenue in retail hubs like the Tucson metro area. We discussed the far-reaching economic impacts of decreased tourism from Mexico with Felipe Garcia, the executive vice president of Vamos a Tucson – Visit Tucson’s Mexico marketing department.
For more insight into how the pandemic has impacted Sonora, Mexico, we connected with Claudia Orduño, a podcaster and former Mexican diplomat based in Hermosillo.
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