The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
The U.K. variant COVID strain has been identified in Arizona. It is more highly contagious than COVID-19, and is therefore more easily transmitted. In Arizona nearly 16,000 people have died from coronavirus in the past year. Now is not the time to let down our guard and allow the new, more virulent strains to gain a foothold.
Tucson and Pima County have spent well in excess of $50 million combined on COVID testing and vaccinations. That money was invested in the health of the community with the understanding the federal dollars allocated to the state would be used to make us whole. It must be. Neither the city nor the county has $50 million sitting in our petty cash drawer. We must responsibly invest in our other budget obligations.
Gov. Doug Ducey is sitting on more than $400 million in federal money that was earmarked to pay for testing and vaccinations. Last week he announced $14 million would be sent to Pima County. Later that same day, the Ducey administration further announced that none of the $14 million can be used to reimburse either the city or the county for money already spent on keeping the public safe. The governor is playing political games with the lives of Pima County residents.
The County Board of Supervisors will vote this week on whether they can continue to spend down their limited cash reserves on COVID testing. The City Council is similarly facing the end of our CARES Act allocation.
Neither the city nor the county can go into deficit spending to continue paying for COVID testing. If testing is stopped in Pima County, every resident becomes increasingly vulnerable to not only the continuing spread of COVID-19, but to the newly emerging strains. For the Ducey administration to even allow this conversation to take place while he has hundreds of millions of federal dollars sitting earmarked for this purpose is unconscionable.
During the COVID-19 surge last summer, health-care workers across the nation were placed in the position of triaging medical care. Rationing health care forced delays in elective surgeries, and who was admitted into hospitals. It also impacted treatment decisions made for COVID patients. It cost lives.
The Ducey decision to withhold funds for testing and vaccinations will have the same effect. As testing is reduced or eliminated at the county level, we will have no way of identifying new cases, isolating infected residents, contact tracing to control community spread, and providing effective treatment early in the progression of the disease. And all of that is exacerbated as the new strains emerge and spread.
Every responsible health-care professional says we are in a race with the new variant COVID strains. We must accelerate vaccinations. We must continue to test or we will simply not know where COVID is surging in the community. All of that takes money, and Ducey is making a conscious decision to withhold the funds.
Since COVID emerged last year, the city of Tucson and Pima County have responsibly delivered health-care services to the region. We can continue doing so, but not without access to the funds the federal government allocated for testing and vaccinations.
Withholding that money is a life and death decision β and Gov. Ducey is responsible.
