largely anticipated from the expected drop of corporate income tax (by 39%), income tax withholdings (by 15%), and the increase in state costs due to healthcare. from mid-march to may, over half a million individuals had filed unemployment claims in arizona. some arizonans reported an issue with receiving the additional unemployment funds from the cares act. on 1 june 2020, the arizona department of economic security (azdes) announced that it received over $24 million from the coronavirus relief bill. the department stated that the funds would be used to assist low-income individuals with utility bills, housing payments, and employment assistance. in that same week, the number of unemployment applications since mid-march rose over 620,000 claims. schools following the outbreak of covid-19 in the united states, academic institutions across arizona moved to distance learning. on march 30, governor ducey declared a statewide closure for all schools and mandated the option for students to complete coursework in an alternate method. following the lifting of the arizona's lockdown order, gov. ducey announced that schools would be reopening for face-to-face instruction in the fall. the director of arizona department of health services, dr. cara christ, described the intent to "reduce class sizes, create disinfectant protocols and be flexible with parents and employees who have health problems that put them at higher risk for severe complications from covid-19." on 1 june 2020, the arizona department of education released guidelines for the reopening of public schools. measures included masks for staff and older students, staying home in the event of covid-19 symptoms or diagnosis, provisions for frequent disinfection of surfaces, and socially distanced seating. ducey announced on june 29, 2020, that in-person school would be delayed until august 17. on july 24, ducey announced that schools would not reopen in person until public health benchmarks were reached, and that these benchmarks would be determined by adhs by august 7. on august 6, ducey as well as christ from adhs and superintendent of public instruction kathy hoffman of the arizona department of education announced the county-level benchmarks that are recommended before in-person learning takes place. these benchmarks are 1) a decline in cases (or less than 100 cases per 100,000 individuals for two consecutive weeks), 2) two consecutive weeks with percent positivity of covid-19 pcr tests below 7%, and 3) two consecutive weeks with hospital visits for covid-like illnesses in the region below 10%, and adhs will release county-level data for these every thursday, beginning august 6. on august 27, yavapai county became the first to meet these benchmarks. on october 22, adhs revised the recommendation about when to return to virtual learning from a change in one benchmark to a change in all three benchmarks. in the october 28 benchmarks, most counties were recommended to follow the hybrid model with the exception of greenlee county where the recommendation is for the traditional model. despite not meeting the recommended benchmarks, the governing board for j.o. combs unified school district in san tan valley voted to resume classes in person on august 17, 2020; however, these plans were cancelled after many teachers staged a "sick out". a second school district, the queen creek unified school district, also voted to resume classes in person on monday with some teachers resigning in response. higher education a door on the asu tempe campus with a sticker about the requirement to wear masks. by march 12, several universities (including all three state universities and some community colleges) announced that courses would be moved to an online format for at least two weeks following spring break. by march 16, all three state universities (university of arizona, arizona state university, and northern arizona university) announced that they would continue online courses through the end of spring semester. by late april, all three state universities publicly announced the intention to resume in-person classes in the fall semester. all universities described plans for measure to ensure public safety, including diagnostic testing for students/faculty/staff and modifications to classroom formats. in june, all three state universities announced that all students, faculty, staff and visitors are required to wear masks on campus inside buildings and outside where maintaining social distancing of six feet is difficult. multiple universities also announced budget cuts to staff and faculty salaries due to financial hardship from the covid-19 pandemic. in mid april, the university of arizona released a furlough and paycut plan from june 2020 to june 2021. similarly, nau announced payouts and reduced contracts due to an anticipated decrease in enrollment. sports major league baseball (mlb) cancelled the remainder of spring training on march 12, affecting ten separate cactus league venues in the phoenix area (and over 66,000 seasonal and 2,000 volunteer jobs), and on march 16, mlb announced that the regular season would be postponed indefinitely, after the recommendations from the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) to restrict events of more than 50 people for the next eight weeks, affecting every team that trains in arizona: the arizona diamondbacks, cleveland indians, cincinnati reds, chicago cubs, chicago white sox, colorado rockies, kansas city royals, los angeles dodgers, los angeles angels, milwaukee brewers, oakland athletics, san diego padres, san francisco giants, seattle mariners, and the texas rangers. the cactus league attracts over 1 million visitors to the state and generates more than $600 million a year in economic impact to the greater phoenix metropolitan economy. in early april, mlb began discussing plans to conduct its 2020 season entirely in the phoenix area, with teams playing at chase field and spring training complexes to empty crowds. in the national basketball association, the season was suspended for 30 days starting on march 12, affecting the phoenix suns. on march 19, suns guard devin booker announced a pledge of $100,000 to launch a donation campaign on video streaming platform twitch, which would be matched by phoenix suns charities. the funds would benefit local phoenix area charities assisting seniors, families and children, and help with local healthcare initiatives during the covid-19 crisis including drive-through clinics. also on march 12, the national hockey league suspended the season indefinitely, affecting the arizona coyotes. nascar raced their last race at phoenix raceway in avondale on march 7–8 with a crowd record before the pandemic started, making joey logano and brandon jones the last two winners before the season was put on hold. statistics demographics source: analysis by the arizona department of health services, as of may 10, 2023.