Why is Ducey OK with virus ravaging state?
The whole nation except Gov. Doug Ducey knows that COVID-19 is spreading like wildfire in Arizona, hitting Latinos and other minorities hardest.
Arizona this week surpassed 100,000 known COVID-19 cases, grabbing national headlines as Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego took to the airwaves clamoring for help but finding none.
Gallego is sounding the alarm as the rapid spike of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations turned Arizona into one of the worst hot spots in the nation.
This isn’t just embarrassing. It’s a catastrophic health crisis and the result of Ducey’s monumental leadership failure.
Things are so bad that COVID-19 patients in the Tucson area were being transferred to Phoenix and out of the state due shortages in beds, equipment or staffing, Tucson.com reported Monday.
In south Phoenix, a predominantly Latino and African American area, residents waited hours in the scorching heat to get tested. And those lucky enough to get it will almost certainly have to wait many days to get the results.
Gallego said the Federal Emergency Management Agency has denied multiple requests for mega-COVID-19 testing sites in Phoenix.
But forget FEMA. We know the boss, President Donald Trump, wants to slow COVID-19 testing to have a lower number of cases. Gallego won’t find help there.
How about Ducey? Why isn’t he sprinting into action as Arizonans fall into despair seeking tests and quick results, and actually dying of COVID-19?
The virus is everywhere now, yet Ducey himself remains aloof, merely encouraging people to wear a mask and asking them to stay home whenever possible — advice many Arizonans ignored over the Fourth of July weekend.
Ducey’s aides told The Arizona Republic’s Jessica Boehm that FEMA is providing significant support to Arizona, but it’s not coming in the form of mass testing sites. They also said the governor’s office has been prioritizing partnership with local providers to offer smaller test sites scattered around instead of large-scale, drive-thru sites.
Latinos and other minorities that are being hit hardest with COVID-19 are the ones relying on large-scale drive-thru sites, as evidenced when some waited hours in west Phoenix a few weeks ago and most recently in south Phoenix.
New federal data analyzed by The New York Times showed that Latino and Black people have been three times as likely to become infected as white people. It also showed that Latino and Black people have been nearly twice as likely to die from the virus as white people.
The racial disparities, the Times noted, “persists across state lines and regions. In Arizona, The Arizona Republic reported that while race/ethnicity is unknown for 51% of the state’s 101,441 cases, 23% of the cases are Hispanic or Latino, 15% are white, 7% are Native American and 2% are Black.”
That still provides a snapshot of the racial disparities in Arizona where Hispanics make up a third of the state’s 7 million residents.
I bet Ducey wouldn’t hesitate for a second to shut down the entire state if COVID-19 was disproportionally affecting white or wealthy Arizonans. Remember when he imposed a statewide curfew only after some protesters looted the posh Scottsdale mall?
But Ducey might not lift a finger to help Gallego or any other local official as long as minorities are the ones mostly catching COVID-19 and dying from it. How can Arizonans let him get away with it?