Gov. Ducey finally says Arizona is in trouble

Well, that was both alarming and slightly embarrassing. Gov. Doug Ducey has finally figured out that Arizona is in deep trouble.

“COVID-19 is widespread in Arizona ...” he said on Thursday. “It’s growing and it’s growing fast across all age groups and demographics.”

“The rate of the spread of this virus is unacceptable,” he said, “and it’s time for us to step up our actions and our personal responsibilities.”

“This virus,” he said, “is everywhere.”

As opposed to, say, Tuesday when ... it wasn’t?

As opposed to, say, next Tuesday when ... it won’t be?

Just 48 hours before his Thursday’s pronouncements, Ducey sat for nearly two hours in a Phoenix megachurch, surrounded by 3,000 Donald Trump supporters who sat shoulder to shoulder, with hardly a mask in sight. Hundreds more, meanwhile, gathered outside to protest.

This governor could have stopped that from happening — or at least ordered that the rally be moved outdoors to lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission.

He could have informed Trump that now just isn’t a good time, as our state is getting sicker, our ICU beds and funeral homes are getting fuller and our front-line health care workers are getting ... well, they’re dog tired.

He could have told Trump to come back once Arizonans no longer have to wait 13 hours in line to get tested, to see if they are unknowingly are spreading the disease.

Instead, the governor of the state of Arizona just sat there on Tuesday, one of a pitiful handful wearing a mask as all around him absolutely no one followed his lead.

Meanwhile on Thursday, Ducey pleaded with people to stay home and at all costs avoid large groups, saying “the crowded social gatherings that we’ve seen must be minimized.”

Except for next Tuesday when Vice President Mike Pence swings into the state to talk about how America is on the road to a comeback.

“This is an official White House visit that’s happening with Vice President Pence next week ...,” Ducey told reporters. “We’re going to accommodate him.”

Just as he has been accommodating to any group that has wanted to rally, protest or party. And look where that has landed us — with a highly contagious, sometimes deadly virus that is raging out of control.

Ducey really should consider calling a halt to his coronavirus press conferences. Every week, he just looks weaker and more unprepared to lead us through this mess.

On Thursday, Ducey touted the “dramatic increase” in the number of people wearing masks, noting that 75% of the state now is under a mask mandate. But those orders — which are unpopular with Trump and his most ardent supporters — came not from the state’s governor but from city and county officials who were left to take action because Ducey wouldn’t.

On Thursday, Ducey pleaded with

people to stay home where it’s “safer.” But he dodged questions about whether he would ever reinstitute any part of his stay-at-home order, with some vague answer about “tools in the toolbox and arrows in our quiver.”

On Thursday, Ducey touted the fact that one downtown Scottsdale nightclub – one – has been cited by Scottsdale police for packing in the partiers and the state liquor department has sent warnings to eight others for unsafe practices. But those clubs have been dancing a conga line through the loophole in Ducey’s executive order for six weeks, ever since he gave the go-ahead for restaurants to reopen.

Ducey struck an urgent and somber tone during his press conference on Thursday, but his actions just don’t back up his words.

He could order nightclubs closed, removing the loophole in his executive order that allowed them to reopen in the first place.

He could order every Arizonan to wear a mask when they cannot maintain a social distance, given that even he now admits the virus is everywhere and that masks are our best defense.

He could bite the bullet and order that all schools move to online learning for the fall semester, given his own acknowledgement that this disease is hitting Arizona hard and will continue to hit us hard through August — and then again later on when a second wave hits the state.

Instead, Ducey held yet another press conference to showcase his utter inability to lead us through this disaster.

“It’s time,” the governor said, “for us to step up our actions and our responsibilities regarding this virus.”

Yes, governor, it is time to step up.