Employees and members of the public now have to wear masks when inside of Pima County facilities, including common areas, lobbies, elevators, and where physical distancing is not possible or there are no protective barriers.
Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry announced the new health and safety procedures in a June 11 memo.
The county will provide cloth masks for employees, and disposable paper masks for the public and vendors. Masks will not be required in parking garages as long as physical distancing is maintained.
According to Huckelberry’s memo, the changes were put in place “due to an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, and to prevent the spread of the disease.”
Employees who fail to comply with the procedure “may be subject to discipline up to and including dismissal,” Huckelberry wrote in his memo. County vendors and members of the public who do not comply will not be permitted access to the county facility and asked to leave.
As of Friday, June 12, Pima county had 3,628 of the state’s 32,918 confirmed cases of COVID-19. The Arizona Department of Health Services reported 1,654 new cases Friday morning.
A total of 1,144 people have died after contracting the virus, but the number in Pima County couldn't be determined as the Arizona Department of Health Services data dashboard was experiencing technical difficulties this morning and would not load several statistics being followed by the media and public.
During a press conference on Thursday, Gov. Doug Ducey acknowledged that the percentage of positive cases was increasing and that the state would continue to monitor the situation. Ducey did say that he would not consider a second stay-home order.
"This virus is not going away," Ducey said. "There is not a cure for this virus. There is not a vaccine for this virus. So this virus is something we need to learn to live with. And we need to make sure we are protecting the most vulnerable in our society. Those are folks in a certain age bracket with underlying health conditions and at-risk conditions and we're going to continue to do that every single day until there is a vaccine."