State Glance
Arizona reports 488 new COVID-19 cases and 12
additional deaths PHOENIX — Arizona health officials on Sunday reported 488 new confirmed COVID-19 cases with 12 more deaths amid indications of continued slowing of the coronavirus outbreak.
Arizona’s pandemic totals rose to 836,253 cases and 16,745 known deaths since the pandemic began.
State health officials said the number of confirmed or suspected coronavirus inpatients in hospitals around Arizona decreased to 631 on Saturday.
In addition, the number of ICU beds used by COVID-19 patients fell to 173 Saturday and that’s the fewest since Oct. 22.
Arizona’s weekly percent positivity for COVID-19 diagnostic testing, an indicator of how much the virus is spreading in the community, is at a five-month low.
Of the nearly 49,000 people tested so far this week, 5% received a positive result — matching the lowest mark since early October.
Johns Hopkins University data showed the rolling average of daily new cases dropped from 1,265.1 on March 4 to 456.9 on Thursday while the rolling average of daily deaths declined from 62.2 to 24.6 over the same two-week period.
Tucson official says city can fight water cuts despite data
TUCSON — Tucson’s top water official has said that the city could withstand a “worst plausible scenario” cut of 50% of its total Colorado River allocation from the Central Arizona Project canal system.
Interim Assistant City Manager Tim Thomure said much of the water that could be cut is not currently under customer use and that the city stores more than one-third of its CAP supply in large basins for emergency use, the Arizona Daily Star reported Saturday.
The assurance came despite warnings from researchers who have warned that the Colorado River Basin could face severe cuts in water supplies due to climate change and other factors.
The data shows that climate change might interfere with the city’s future supply of water, including the natural recharge of its aquifer due to reduced rainfall and increased evaporation, the newspaper reported.
A new federal study warns that continued climate change could reduce natural recharge, said Kathy Jacobs, a University of Arizona climate scientist.
Legislator welcomes court plan to review no-knock
warrants PHOENIX — An Arizona lawmaker who sought unsuccessfully to ban noknock search warrants during the current legislative session says she is pleased that a court task force has been appointed to review how the warrants are issued and whether there should be changes to stiffen safeguards.
Democratic Rep. Alma Hernandez of Tucson sponsored a bill to ban no-knock warrants but says she is abandoning her proposal because it was amended to still allow unannounced entries by police in certain circumstances.
Hernandez told the Arizona Capitol Times that she would like to see the task force’s eventual recommendations before deciding whether she will propose a ban again next session.
Arizona is among states nationwide examining no-knock warrants in the wake of a 2020 raid in which police fatally shot Breonna Taylor in her home in Louisville, Kentucky.
Arizona Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Brutinel’s order creating the task force said no-knock warrants can create dangerous situations and that any bad outcomes “can seriously impact the public’s trust in the justice system.”
The 19-member task force is scheduled to submit its recommendations to the court by Oct. 21.
Navajo Nation reports 5 more COVID-19 cases and 4
additional deaths WINDOW ROCK — The Navajo Nation has reported four more COVID-19 related deaths and five new cases as the total number of cases approaches the 30,000 mark since the pandemic began.
The latest numbers released Saturday night pushed the tribe’s pandemic total to 29,998 confirmed cases and 1,233 known deaths.