Gov. Doug Ducey held a press conference Wednesday with more information regarding the state’s continuing response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The press conference comes after the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona spiked exponentially over the past week.
Ducey said in the press conference that the state’s priority is the health of its citizens and that individual city governments will be allowed to place their own rules and restrictions regarding the wearing of face masks in public.
“First and foremost, we want people to stay healthy,” he said. “If you have not contracted COVID-19, you can avoid contracting COVID-19. If you do contract it, we want to be able to care for you, but we are hopeful that you can avoid that.”
The number of positive COVID-19 cases has continued to rise in recent days, with many people calling for stricter restrictions on the economy and the use of masks to lower the spread of the disease.
Previously, Ducey said that individual municipalities and counties would not be allowed to enact rules that differed with the official response and guidelines from the state. This included the mandatory use of masks and extended regulations for businesses.
However, in this press conference, the governor backpedaled and announced that individual municipalities would be able to enact such rules to better tailor the response to the pandemic.
Ducey also said that there are still plenty of available hospital beds in intensive care units; however, comments from large hospitals and health systems have shown that the number of in-use beds is nearing capacity in the state.
Ducey also said that the number of tests that have been carried out in Arizona has risen by 600% since the stay-at-home order was lifted.
Dr. Cara Christ, the state’s director of the department of health services, said that the risk of contracting the virus is much higher when interacting with people while also highlighting that “there is asymptomatic spread . . . and so that’s why it’s so important to wear a cloth face covering when [people] are out.”
Ducey said that enabling local government officials to implement their own rules and regulations regarding the use of face coverings is in response to requests by local government leaders.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said on Twitter that Ducey “gave the power back to cities to implement our own health and safety measures to fight rising [COVID-19] cases. This is the needed step to allow cities to protect residents.”
1/ Today @dougducey gave the power back to cities to implement our own health and safety measures to fight rising #COVID cases. This is the needed step to allow cities to protect residents.
— Mayor Kate Gallego (@MayorGallego) June 17, 2020
The new state guidance for face masks is aimed at helping local communities deal with their individual problems on a more specific level than they would have been able to by following a general rule at the state level.
“This is about returning smarter, and we know that COVID-19 is widespread in our community. . . an important part of containing the spread is the use of masks,” Ducey said.
Surrounding Phoenix cities like Mesa and Tempe have required people to wear a mask when they go out. The City of Phoenix will vote to make masks mandatory on Friday.
Contact the reporter at iyakin@asu.edu.
