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Arizona Covid cases double since June, as virus rebounds in state, U.S.
First lady Jill Biden’s positive Covid test this past weekend was the latest, and most high-profile, reminder that cases are once again on the rise in the U.S. and in Arizona, where new infections per week have more than doubled since early July.
Plan to negotiate drug prices could affect 165,000 Arizonans
The Biden administration targeted 10 prescription drugs Tuesday as part of the first-ever Medicare price negotiation, a move that it said could benefit 9 million beneficiaries – including 165,000 in Arizona.
Maternal mortality soars in U.S., state; Black, Native women hardest hit
Maternal death rates more than doubled over the past 20 years in the U.S., with Black and Indigenous women continuing to see mortality rates that far exceeded other groups – a pattern that was repeated in Arizona, according to a recent study.
Hobbs’ heat emergency sparks criticism, could change policy
Gov. Katie Hobbs’ emergency order last week declaring a heat emergency in three Arizona Counties comes off an upward trend of heat-related deaths and hospitalizations in the most populous county of the state during recent years.
Women can obtain birth control pills from pharmacist starting this week with some conditions
It's official: Women in Arizona can now walk into a pharmacy and get birth control pills. Ditto hormonal rings and patches.
Pharmacists will be able to dispense birth control to women without prescriptions
Women in Arizona are soon going to find it a lot easier to get birth control. Sometime this coming month pharmacists will, for the first time since birth control pills were authorized in 1960, be allowed to dispense them without women having to present a prescription.
Text ‘join’ to get Covid, health updates in rural Arizona
Text messages updating rural residents about Covid are now being expanded to other health issues to text people who have less access to health care, including people of color, migrants and those who are immunocompromised.
Fire districts face uncertain funding future after ballot measure’s failure
Voters said “no” to a plan that would have added one-tenth of a penny to the state sales tax to benefit rural fire districts, but firefighters warn that the need – and the threat to public safety – have not gone away.
Senate Republicans take credit for opposing CDC push to vaccinate youths against Covid
Senate Republicans are taking credit for standing up to a new push by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to have kids vaccinated against Covid before attending school.
Covid ‘line of duty’ death for Border Patrol agent
Without additional details, "line of duty" doesn't tell the public much about how a uniformed federal officer died. And the recent use of "line of duty" to describe Covid deaths is coming at a time that vaccines are widely available, but vaccine mandates face resistance from some law enforcement officers, including pushback from the union representing Border Patrol agents.
Ducey orders end to universities’ policies for unvaccinated students
Gov. Doug Ducey has forbade public universities and community colleges from requiring that students and staff wear masks and get tested regularly for Covid.
State launches vaccine dashboard, but info lacking
The Arizona Department of Health Services launched its vaccine data dashboard February 9, almost 60 days since administering the first shot and without a plethora of information.
