Sen. Sinema says Gov. Ducey isn’t interested in talking to her about the pandemic.
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., said Tuesday she hasn’t spoken with Gov. Doug Ducey about the state’s deteriorating COVID-19 situation, saying he and his health director “may not have the time or interest” to discuss the rising hospitalizations with her.
“The director of the Department of Health Services and the governor have chosen to run a program that they feel is appropriate for Arizona, and have indicated they may not have the time or the interest to spend a lot of time with me on the phone,” the Arizona Democrat said in an interview with “The Gaydos and Chad Show” on KTAR-FM (92.3 FM).
On Wednesday, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., defended Ducey and suggested that senators should not be trying to instruct the governor.
“Gov. Ducey was elected to be the governor. It’s his responsibility at the state level to make the direction for the state and with advice from his able team that he has around him,” she said on “The Mike Broomhead Show,” also on KTAR.
“I have my role in the Senate. He’s the governor. I’m not going to tell him what to do, and we’re here supportive and trying to do our part at the federal level.”
Sinema’s blunt assessment came on a day when the state once again set records for new cases and hospitalizations. She went on to rip Ducey’s remarks last week that the state’s hospitals had capacity for treating far more coronavirus cases.
“I don’t think it makes sense to design your policy based on whether or not there are enough hospital beds for people to die in,” she said. “I think we should be designing our policy about how do we reduce the spread, so fewer people are dying, fewer people are in the hospitals and fewer people are contracting the virus. That should be our focus. And we can do that while also safely reopening our businesses and our economy.”
It was an unsubtle rejoinder to Ducey’s words last week.
“I want every Arizonan to be able to have the medical care and comfort and resources necessary, and today we are able to provide that,” the Republican governor said in a defensive news conference on Thursday. Ducey pushed back against what he maintained was an incorrect national image of the state struggling to manage the virus.
“I knew what the numbers were and what the facts were,” Ducey said. “We reconfirmed them with the hospitals, and now we’ve communicated them to all of you and your media outlets, as well as the national news. So everyone today knows that Arizona has hospital capacity.”
Ducey didn’t directly respond to Sinema’s remarks. On Tuesday evening, he shared a Twitter post about the kind of health advice others have asked him to require: Wear masks and keep distance from others.
McSally hasn’t made virus a focus
Sinema’s harsh words stand in contrast to U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, RAriz., who touted her work on securing defense funding in Arizona in the Senate’s Pentagon spending plan and hasn’t made the virus a focus of her public communication in recent days.
On Wednesday, McSally said managing the virus is everyone’s job.
“I think the governor has done a good job. It’s up to Arizonans to take care of each other. This virus is not going away,” she said. “It’s about us protecting the vulnerable while still allowing people to be able to safely return to work to put food on the table. But we’ve got to do our part. We don’t sit back and wait for government edicts. We each need to still take care of each other and do our part to stop the spread.”
By contrast, Sinema emphasized that experts had warned of darker days in Arizona from the virus.
“The spike in cases was not unexpected,” she said. “But what’s concerning is that the severity of the spike is increasing daily, with today being very sobering.
“Our hospital systems could be on edge and could be overwhelmed within less than three weeks,” Sinema said.
She said the state needs far more testing for the virus, a robust virustracing team and the public needs to wear masks in public and keep distance from others.