Pima County Board To Return To In-Person Meetings March 15

TUCSON, AZ — The Pima County Board of Supervisors is set to resume in-person board meetings on March 15, after conducting its meetings virtually for more than a year.

The supervisors voted 3-2 Tuesday to return to in-person meetings, with Vice Chair Adelita Grijalva and Supervisor Matt Heinz voting against.

Grijalva said she was not opposed to returning to in-person meetings, as long as the supervisors were required to follow the same masking rules as everyone else in county buildings. But the vote included the stipulation that members of the board of supervisors would not have to wear masks. This was based on the assumption that Pima County's COVID-19 numbers would drop below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's threshold for recommending masking indoors prior to March 15.

The county is currently still in the CDC's high risk level, in which it still recommends masking, but case numbers and hospitalizations have dropped dramatically since the omicron variant peaked in mid-January.

Supervisor Steve Christy, the only Republican on the board, applauded the decision to return to in-person meetings, and added that it's been proven that masks are useless. The World Health Organization said that wearing a mask alone is not enough to prevent COVID-19, but that masks should be used as part of a "comprehensive strategy of measures to suppress transmission."

"They deserve the ability to see us in person," Christy said, of the members of the public who want to address the board. "We need to stop this mask nonsense once and for all."

He added that the thought of wearing a mask to a county board meeting was "absolutely ridiculous and unnecessary."

Other measures to keep the supervisors safe during the March 15 meeting include social distancing and plexiglass barriers.

Dr. Francisco Garcia, the county's deputy administrator and chief medical officer, told the supervisors that Pima County would likely drop below the CDC's threshold for masking by the end of this week.

The board also voted 3-2 Tuesday, with Grijalva and Heinz again voting against, to nix mask requirements in county buildings as of March 11. Acting County Administrator Jan Lesher said this would give the county time to ensure that the numbers do fall below the CDC masking threshold and to create guidance and signage to support those who choose to continue masking but make it clear that masking is recommended, not required in county buildings.