Ducey dances while other governors take tough action

State health officials on Wednesday painted a picture of what could be coming to Arizona in just a few weeks.

Think The Scream, by Edvard Munch.

While President Donald Trump talks about packing churches and reopening America for business by Easter, state health officials are talking about the need to nearly double the number of hospital beds in the next few weeks, perhaps opening up Veterans Memorial Coliseum as a recovery center.

Picture it: a 15,000-seat arena lined, end to end, with hospital beds.

“We expect it to be above and beyond our current capacity of beds,” Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ said during a Wednesday press conference, though she later tweeted that her dire projections were based on a worse-case scenario.

It seems to me the scenario already is pretty grim.

Arizona has about 1,000 ventilators — 1,400 tops — and Christ projects we will need at least 4,500.

She has put in a request to the feds for an additional 5,000 ventilators.

However, the Center for Public Integrity reports there are only 16,600 of the breathing machines in the federal government’s Strategic National Stockpile.

This, in a country where nearly 750,000 people will need them, in the event of the severe outbreak, according to a study by Johns Hopkins University — or 64,000 in a moderate outbreak.

Back to The Scream: state health officials have made it clear that the coronavirus pandemic is likely to get a whole lot worse in Arizona before it gets better. They’ve made it clear that by the time things get worse, it will be too late to act.

Yet Gov. Doug Ducey still has not issued an order to close down all nonessential businesses in the state.

The coronavirus is now in 13 of the state’s 15 counties, with 665 confirmed cases on Friday — a jump of 31% in just one day — and 13 deaths. DHS now says the virus is “widespread” around the state.

And Ducey still hasn’t ordered people to stay the heck home.

In fact, he hasn’t even closed bars and restaurant dining rooms in some counties.

Every day, the nation’s public health experts pummel us with pleas to stay at home and “flatten the curve” so as not to overwhelm our health-care system.

Twenty-three states have taken that plea seriously, ordering their residents to stay home except when it’s absolutely necessary to go out.

“We haven’t faced an enemy like we are facing today in 102 years,” said Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine,

who over the weekend issued a stay-at-home order for his state.

“We are at war.”

Meanwhile, we in Arizona ... aren’t because our governor hesitates.

All week long, Ducey has danced around the question of when — or if — he will fully commit to the battle by issuing a shelter-in-place order, just as he was dancing last week while mayors all around him were stepping up close bars and restaurants.

On Wednesday, a Scottsdale doctor started a petition on change.org pleading with Ducey to lock down the state.

“Every hour that people are out on the streets adds weeks to how long this will last — not to mention the insurmountable number of deaths that will also occur because of it,” Dr. JulieAnn Heathcott wrote.

Hours later, more than 71,000 people had signed her petition.

Meanwhile, Ducey told reporters that “escalation” will depend upon “the facts.”

“We believe that there are additional cases in front of us,” he said. “As I receive the guidance in alignment with (the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) and Dr. Christ, I will be changing those directives.”

This, as his public health director talks about opening the coliseum as a field hospital.

What, I wonder, is he waiting for?