First of all, stay home if you can. For the next few weeks, we need to find out how widespread COVID-19 is in our community. And since we don't know, the safest thing for everyone is to limit our contact with others. Mayor Regina Romero has asked you to; Gov. Doug Ducey has asked you to; health experts have asked you to. I get into the reasons on Page 4, but here's the reason in the proverbial nutshell: This bug is going to overwhelm our healthcare system if we don't slow it down.
But that order to stay home creates serious problems for many in the community. Our children's schools have closed. Our concert venues have gone dark. Our bars have been shuttered and our restaurants are limited to take-out service. Many of our small businesses are being pushed to the absolute limit.
The Tucson Weekly is not immune to these forces. Much of our revenue is based on bringing people together. So until we can come together again, our independent news organization needs your help. If you see a value in what Tucson Weekly does for our community, we are asking you to please consider a donation to our efforts. While our paper and websites remain free, many of our advertisers are struggling and cannot support us as they have in the past, so we are turning to the community. (Please note that we are not a nonprofit, so your donation is not tax-deductible.) Visit TucsonWeekly.com for details on how you can help us out and thanks for your consideration.
In the book this week, we bring you news on this developing crisis: Tucson Salvage columnist Brian Smith spends an afternoon at a Circle K, where the homeless regulars don't appear concerned about any virus; columnist Tom Danehy reflects on life in a pandemic while in line to buy toilet paper; associate editor Jeff Gardner explains why predicting how long the pandemic will last is so challenging; staff reporter Austin Counts memorializes Pima County Supervisor Richard Elias, who died suddenly last weekend of an apparent heart attack; Cannabis 520 colunist Nick Meyers looks at how the outbreak is affecting dispensaries; and calendar editor Emily Dieckman turns City Week into a listing of resources during these times of trouble. Plus, we let you know about what films you can stream to support the Loft Cinema and the new outbreak-inspired music Jacob Acosta is creating. And we still have Dan Savage's sex column, Rob Brezsny's astrology column, our crossword puzzle and all our fine comics.
See you on Zoom!
— Jim Nintzel Executive Editor
