Matt Heinz, an attending physician at the Tucson Medical Center and Pima Supervisor in district two, held the governor and republican Supervisor Steve Christy responsible for the 27,164 deaths from Covid in Arizona. He spoke at the February 7, 2022, meeting of Democrats of Greater Tucson. "I don't know how Governor Ducey can sleep," Heinz said. "He has personally led to the deaths of thousands of Arizonans because of the fact that he never put a mask mandate in place for the entire state -- even back in March of 2020." Gov. Ducey allowed thousands of Arizonans to die by [...]

If all vaccinated folks stopped going to businesses that do not require proof of vaccination, we would turn Covid from a political issue into an economic condition. In Arizona, 5 million people or 68% of state residents have received at least one dose. Vaccinated folks are a majority and therefore have the economic power. The unvaccinated should not be rewarded for putting the rest of us in jeopardy and denying us our civil rights. Having seen the news about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the struggle to guarantee national voting rights, and the interminable pandemic infestation of Covid-19, I started [...]

Dr. Theresa Cullen, the Director of the Pima County Health Department said that, despite obstacles, Tucson is a vaccine success story.  Speaking at the March 23, 2021 meeting of LD9 Democrats, she said that 81% of all people over 70 have been vaccinated in Pima County. Cullen said 500,000 vaccinations have been given out. Some people have doubts about the vaccine. On the contrary, Cullen said the Covid vaccines have minimal or weak side effects, and that there was plenty of time to test them for safety. This article first appeared on the LD9 Democrats website. AGE – Anyone [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed several shortcomings in the U.S. health care system: The illusion of reliable employer-based health insurance is crumbling. Our safety nets have wide geographic variations. High-deductible insurance plans result in delayed care for people with chronic conditions. Underlying racial and geographic disparities in care are worsening. Our current system fails on the three pillars of an adequate healthcare system – cost, access, and quality. Medicare is better than private insurance The U.S. spends far more on health care than any other nation, but our life expectancy has fallen behind. We must use the lessons of this [...]