Hello, I'm Dr. Jeffrey C. Silvertooth,
Associate Dean and Director of Arizona
Cooperative Extension here at the
University of Arizona.  While many of us
are feeling uncertainty and anxiety at
this time, for numerous reasons, and good
reasons, we believe that clearly
communicating on the impacts of the
COVID-19 issue, and what that has
done to Extension, will help us all
coordinate efforts and avoid
miscommunication.  This is a very
unprecedented time for us all, and
decisions that we have made have come at
great discussion and debate.  Experts have continually told us that the absolute
best way to control the spread of this
virus is through social distancing and
we're doing our part to ensure that we
adhere to that primary recommendation.
With our key responsibility being to
secure the health and safety of our
entire Extension network, including
employees, stakeholders, program
participants, and volunteers, we have
decided to suspend all IN-PERSON
programming and events until further
notice.  Within the next couple weeks,
we'll be able to reassess where we are
in regard to the COVID-19
mitigation, and then communicate our next steps to deliver on our mission to the
University of Arizona.  Please keep in
mind that the emphasis on these
suspensions is directed only toward
IN-PERSON programming and events.  Over
the past several years, we have worked
hard to deliver the same quality content
with similar in person experiences,
electronically.  We're even set up to
continue some operations through online
channels.  For example our 4-h youth
development team has come up with
alternative programming to keep Arizona
youth fully engaged during this
programming outage.  Some of our Master
Gardener clinics and helpdesks continue
to field phone calls and emails about
various horticultural inquiries.  And
access to experts from all across the
agricultural and life sciences spectrum
here at the University of Arizona is
always available at extension.arizona.edu/contact-us.
Further updates from the University of Arizona
can also be reviewed through the arizona.edu web site.  We will do our very best to
continue to provide updates through all
communication vehicles, including email,
web, and social media.  And we look
forward to the day that we can't lift
the suspensions so that we can all get back to doing our work serving our
communities all across the state, in
person.  In the meantime, we'll continue to
do all we can for you during this
unprecedented time.
This is Dr. Jeffrey C. Silvertooth, 
University of Arizona Cooperative Extension.
Thank you!
