Arizonans who lost job due to virus won’t get full extra pay

PHOENIX (AP) — Unemployed Arizonans who were expecting to receive an additional $400 a week under an executive order President Donald Trump signed last weekend will only receive $300 extra, Gov. Doug Ducey’s office announced Friday.

The $400 payment Trump announced to boost payments because of the coronavirus included a 25% state match. Arizona is among a large number of states that have opted out of that cash match because of budget concerns. The government issued rules earlier this week after pressure from states to allow them to count regular state unemployment payments toward the match.

That means the $100 Arizona match will come out of the state’s $240 per week unemployment benefit, so benefits paid to recipients will hit a maximum $540 per week, Ducey spokesman Patrick Ptak said. If FEMA approves Arizona’s plan, benefit checks could flow as soon as Sunday, and include two weeks of retroactive payments to the first week in August.

Ptak said it is important to keep the state’s unemployment trust fund solvent, so using that fund to boost benefits isn’t wise.

“We know we have to be responsible and prudent with these dollars,” he said. “We want to make sure that Arizonans can continue to receive unemployment later this year.”

The trust held about $1.1 billion at the end of February, and it now has about $590 million.

“This plan provides immediate help for hundreds of thousands of Arizonans, but we also want to look ahead and make sure Arizonans have help over the long term – that’s important,” he said.

The president acted after Congress failed to agree on an extension of a temporary $600-per-week payment that expired at the end of July, so Trump acted on his own.

Under that program that began in early April, people in Arizona who lost jobs got a total of $840 a week. Arizona’s regular unemployment benefit is the 2nd lowest in the nation and well below that of neighboring states, but Ducey has declined to push for higher rates.

More than 370,000 Arizonans are currently receiving unemployment benefits, up from about 17,500 before the pandemic hit in March and Ducey began ordering businesses to close to contain the spread of the virus. The $600 supplemental payments have helped many stay afloat, along with the businesses they patronize and the governments collecting taxes.

The moves come as the state is seeing major improvements in virus numbers. Arizona health officials on Friday reported 928 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases and 40 additional deaths, increasing the state’s totals to 191,721 confirmed cases with 4,423 deaths.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations in Arizona peaked about a month ago. The latest COVID-19-related hospitalization metrics posted by the Department of Health Services continued to trend down and were at mid- June levels.’

According to Johns Hopkins University data analyzed by The Associated Press, seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases in Arizona and of daily deaths in the state both sharply declined over the past two weeks.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested. Studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

In other developments, a health club chain in metro Phoenix that challenged Ducey’s gym-closure orders aimed at reducing the spread of the coronavirus has asked a judge to hold the governor in contempt of court for enacting what it said was an excessively complicated system for reopening fitness centers.

Mountainside Fitness said in a court filing on Wednesday that Ducey’s reopening plan for reopening fitness clubs lacks firm deadlines and clear standards and argued gyms that assure the state they are operating safely should be allowed to open once they turn in key paperwork.

Last week, a judge ordered Ducey to create an application process for reopening gyms. The judge had ruled that the governor’s shutdown order violated the due process rights of health clubs and said delaying the creation of application procedures to reopen their businesses could further harm their rights as they suffer staggering financial losses.

The Ducey administration on Monday unveiled its reopening plan for gyms, bars and water parks that will let them reopen at a limited capacity and with health precautions once the spread of the virus within their county is downgraded to moderate or minimal.

Maricopa County, where Mountainside Fitness operates, is weeks away from reaching that point.

Ducey spokesman Ptak said businesses that are denied the ability to reopen can seek an appeal with the state. “We will continue to make responsible decisions in the best interest of public health,” he said.

Health clubs in Arizona have been closed for more than six weeks.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.