Arizona ‘reopened too early’ as US cases hit record highs

ARIZONA reopened “way too early” after its coronavirus lockdown, a city mayor has said, as the US state and several others suffered a rise in cases.

Kate Gallego, mayor of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona, made the comment during a debate about whether states which left lockdown early fuelled the virus’s resurgence.

“We opened way too early in Arizona. We were one of the last states to go to stay-at-home and one of the first to re-emerge, and we re-emerged at zero to 60,” she said.

“We had crowded nightclubs handing out free champagne, no masks. Our 20-44-year-olds, which is my own demographic, really led the explosion,” Ms Gallego, a Democrat, went on.

Arizona has been one of the worst states impacted by the surge of coronavirus in America, with Texas, Florida and California among others badly hit.

A Washington Post tracker of the seven-day average of new coronavirus cases reached a record high for the 27th day running over the weekend.

Donald Trump has sought to blame increased testing for the soaring numbers, noting that the number of deaths from the virus has continued to fall since the spring.

However, analysis by the website Axios has cast doubt on this theory, showing that confirmed coronavirus cases are rising at a much higher rate than testing in at least 10 states, including Arizona.

The US president has announced another mass campaign rally despite government advice warning against large gatherings, with an event in New Hampshire scheduled for Saturday.

Mr Trump narrowly lost the state to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and hopes to turn it red at the Nov 3 election. New Hampshire has had relatively few coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, who is a former Republican congressmen, said in a Fox News interview: “When you look at all the numbers that we have, all the testing that we have, the vast majority of people are safe from this.”