Arizona’s governor ends coronavirus restrictions
Ducey: Metrics have improved
PHOENIX — Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday lifted Arizona’s remaining restrictions to curb the coronavirus, prohibiting government mask mandates and allowing bars and nightclubs shuttered for months to open their doors without restrictions.
The Republican governor cited rising vaccination rates and the opening of vaccine appointments to all adults and a declining number of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
Ducey encouraged the
continued use of masks, particularly among groups of unvaccinated people.
His latest executive order allows businesses to enforce mask mandates and distancing requirements if they want, but cities, towns and counties must lift theirs.
Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people also were lifted, but organizers are required to “encourage” safety precautions like social distancing.
“I’m confident Arizona’s businesses and citizens will continue to practice the fundamentals and act responsibly as we gradually get back to normal,” Ducey said in a statement.
Reaction fell along largely partisan lines.
House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican from Mesa, called it “the right and responsible decision” in a statement released by Ducey’s office.
“Better late then never,” Republican state Sen. Michelle Ugenti-rita wrote on Twitter. “To all the (Arizonans) who have suffered so much during this year long shutdown we’re getting there slowly, but surely.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, said Ducey’s decision “directly contradicts the best scientists in the field.”
“To abandon precautions now is like spiking the ball on the 5-yard line,” Gallego wrote on Twitter. “We know new variants are circulating.
The risk of another surge is real.”
In Nevada, Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office didn’t comment on Ducey’s decision but said “certain statewide mitigation measures, including face coverings, will remain in place.
“The state will continue to follow the health and safety advice of public health experts to help determine the best time to lift any statewide mandate,” Sisolak’s office said in a statement.
UNLV epidemiologist Brian Labus, who serves on Sisolak’s COVID-19 medical advisory team, said Arizona’s announcement is “not unexpected.”
Arizona didn’t have Covid-19-related restrictions as widespread as those in Nevada, Labus said, including no statewide mask mandate, although that was in place in some local municipalities.
Arizona’s big hospital chains, which crammed in extra beds and expanded their staff to deal with surges of COVID-19 patients last summer and winter, said the mitigation measures Ducey ended have worked.
They urged people to continue taking precautions.
Ducey resisted pressure to implement a statewide mask mandate last year. He eventually allowed local governments to require face coverings, and most did.
Ducey has said local mask mandates were rarely enforced; mayors have said they were instrumental in getting people to comply with the recommendations of public health experts.
Tucson Mayor Regina Romero said she has no intention of lifting her city’s mask mandate, setting up a potential conflict.
Arizona has twice experienced outbreaks that were among the worst in the world at the time but has more recently seen significant improvement in virus metrics.
About a quarter of Arizona’s population has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccination, and about 16 percent are fully inoculated.
Ducey on Monday opened vaccine appointments to anyone 16 and older, but it will take time for people to get their shots.
The state on Thursday reported 138 additional confirmed COVID-19 cases, the smallest daily increase reported in more than six months.
Another 32 deaths were reported Thursday, increasing the state’s pandemic total to 16,874.
Arizona’s seven-day rolling averages of daily new cases and daily deaths continued to decline.
The rolling average of daily new cases dropped by more than half over the past two weeks to just over 500 on Tuesday, while deaths fell by nearly a third to 36.6, according to Johns Hopkins University data.