It’s time for COVID mandates to go away forever. And last month, one Arizona town took a step in this direction when it passed a resolution that needs to be a trend in every city throughout our state.
With a desire to take proactive measures to protect citizens’ constitutional rights, the Queen Creek Town Council passed Resolution No. 1540-23 with a unanimous vote during its regular meeting in September. And it’s quite clear. While the town recommends that people exercise personal responsibility to prevent illness, it committed to not implementing mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure.”
The town of Queen Creek has committed to not enforce pandemic-related mandates in the future, namely concerning COVID-19.
The Queen Creek Town Council issued a resolution during its regular meeting last week to not implement mandates concerning masks, vaccines, business closures, curfews, or “any similar measure,” effectively refusing to establish emergency orders that would put its citizens through a repeat of this recent COVID-19 pandemic.
The council declared that their resolution was passed to counter a trend among other local and state governments that have been, once again, implementing COVID-19 mandates. The council declared that they were taking the proactive measure to assure their citizens’ “God-given rights and liberties.”
“The Queen Creek Town Council believes the decision to wear a mask and receive a COVID-19 vaccination are personal decisions, not something to be mandated by the government,” stated the resolution. “[The council] believes in the right and liberty of individuals to make personal decisions according to their convictions.”
The resolution recommended town employees practice personal responsibility for illness prevention and declared that the town’s policy would be to allow employees to make their own decisions on vaccines and mask-wearing. The resolution also declared that no employee would be fired for refusing to wear a mask or receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
Councilman Travis Padilla said that the resolution affirmed Queen Creek’s commitment to not allowing a repeat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is a loud and clear message we are sending, that it is important for our town to make a statement that says what happened in the past is not going to happen in the future,” said Padilla.
Almost all other local governments in the state enforced mask mandates, including: Avondale, Bisbee, Buckeye, Casa Grande, Carefree, Clarkdale, Clifton, Coolidge, Cottonwood, Douglas, El Mirage, Flagstaff, Fountain Hills, Gila Bend, Glendale, Globe, Goodyear, Guadalupe, Jerome, Kingman, Litchfield Park, Mammoth, Mesa, Miami, Nogales, Oro Valley, Paradise Valley, Payson, Peoria, Phoenix, San Luis, Sedona, Scottsdale, Somerton, Superior, Surprise, Tempe, Tolleson, Tucson, Youngtown, and Yuma.
Tucson and Phoenix also enforced vaccine mandates. Tucson maintained their vaccine mandate, even fighting against a legal challenge from former Attorney General Mark Brnovich. Phoenix suspended their enforcement due to federal ruling against the Biden administration’s federal contractor vaccine mandate.
Pima County also enforced a vaccine mandate up until the legislature passed a ban against the practice last year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
It appears the costs of pandemic-era remote learning far outweighed the benefits, based on the average student’s comprehension in math and reading.
According to the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data released Monday, Arizona students were middle of the pack in a nationwide decline. The state’s scoring revealed severe learning losses in math and nominal losses in reading.
Nationwide, the NAEP report revealed a negative correlation between remote learning and learning loss. Chalkbeat displayed the correlation through graphs. Public schools and large cities experienced the greatest decline in math scores.
In a press release, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) associate commissioner Daniel McGrath warned that learning losses in math could limit STEM candidates.
“Eighth grade is a pivotal moment in students’ mathematics education, as they develop key mathematics skills for further learning and potential careers in mathematics and science,” said McGrath. “If left unaddressed, this could alter the trajectories and life opportunities of a whole cohort of young people, potentially reducing their abilities to pursue rewarding and productive careers in mathematics, science, and technology.”
The scores come after several years of Democratic leaders advocating for school closures amid the pandemic.
Julie Gunnigle, Democratic candidate for Maricopa County attorney, claimed in an August 2020 interview that remote learning would make kids smarter and stronger. Throughout the pandemic, she insisted that schools be restructured to prevent COVID-19 transmission before reopening.
“I think these kids are going to come out a lot stronger than, for example, my generation is. Like, having to cope with all of this. And a lot smarter, too,” said Gunnigle. “They’re going to be really prepared to brave this, well, brave new technological world.”
I love the ingenuity of Arizona schools working to get students the resources they need to succeed even when learning from home. https://t.co/Xi8W9qXVzx
Last October, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told NPR that the number of school age-youth with mental health issues rose from 13-22 percent to 80 percent over the course of the pandemic. Last December, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy reported that the pandemic caused a mental health crisis in the nation’s youth.
“The COVID-19 pandemic further altered [youth] experiences at home, school, and in the community, and the effect on their mental health has been devastating,” stated Murthy.
Kathy Hoffman, incumbent Arizona Department of Education (ADE) superintendent, advocated for remote learning as recently as January. Like Gunnigle, Hoffman insisted that preventing COVID-19 illness was more important than an in-person education.
Given the severity of our state's situation and the virus's trajectory after the holiday period, Gov. @dougducey should order schools to remain in distance learning for a limited two-week period to align with quarantine protocols and current @azdhs benchmark recommendations.
A recent GoBankingRates survey found that over 50% of Americans want student-loan forgiveness for everyone with any student-loan debt. Considering Democratic lawmakers are hoping President Joe Biden will keep his promise to cancel $50,000 in student debt per person, this data could certainly be used for leverage. But while the number of Americans who now want to see all higher ed-related debt simply erased from the books is growing, it doesn’t mean that we should follow along.
Pandemic and lockdown-related unemployment coupled with a slow economic growth following the low reopening of most states have, indeed, made it difficult for countless Americans to pay off their debt. It is thus natural to see U.S. residents wanting to help those in difficult situations. However, blanket loan forgiveness isn’t a response to hardship. It isn’t even a response to the broken American higher education system. Instead, loan forgiveness will only remove our attention from the errors of subsidized higher education.
Despite politicians’ best efforts, there’s simply no bottomless pit of money anywhere. Taxpayers, and even the Federal Reserve, will eventually run dry.
On Friday, Governor Doug Ducey today signed legislation, sponsored by Rep. Jeff Weninger, that allows bars, liquor stores and restaurants to sell cocktails to-go. The bill is intended to mitigate the damage done to businesses due to the governor’s draconian shut down order due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In March 2020, Ducey issued his draconian Executive Order restricting enforcement of regulations that prohibit sale and delivery of alcoholic beverages with the purchase of food to help mitigate the disasterous financial consequences of the pandemic-related pause on certain business operations.
House Bill 2773 permanently allows Arizona businesses the opportunity to offer to-go cocktails beyond the pandemic.
