Governor Ducey on Thursday responded to Arizona's highest count of COVID-19 cases to date; communicating to residents that they practice caution and follow the protocols - specifically, wearing masks when entering establishments.
“This is Arizona’s first wave and it will not be our last wave,” he said in a teleconference. “Where we are right now and what we expect is manageable, but we need to shift now. We expect that our numbers will be worse next week and the week following in terms of cases and hospitalizations.”
Regardless of the current state of cases, Ducey still remains confident that business will remain open but also communicated that individuals are held accountable if rules are not followed.
“This is not another executive order to post. This is not about closing businesses. This is about public education and personal responsibility,” the two-term Republican governor said.
Governor Ducey himself faced a lot of criticism in the last week around not social distancing while meeting President Trump during his visit; where 3,000 or more attended the gathering in Phoenix - including his inconsistent message on the usage of masks.
“We are going to protect freedom of the press and the right of the people to peacefully assemble in an election year or in any year, it’s in the amendment,” the governor responded.
During the conference call Ducey stressed the need to make smart decisions and always decide whether leaving the house is absolutely necessary; to avoid it if possible.
“When we reopened the economy, we said this was a green light to proceed, not a green light to speed” he said. “We’ve had some speeding, and we’ve had some speeding in business.”
The Governor mentioned that we will need to keep a close eye with law enforcement to ensure that businesses are following the protocols that were rolled out in the last few weeks - making sure customers are social distancing and wearing masks.
“If you have not been cited, you can prevent being cited by putting in proper social distancing policies,” he said.
Ducey brought up his talks with President Trump, praising him and VP Pence, for their strong leadership during this pandemic, saying, “I got a personal phone call from President Trump wanting to know the situation in the Navajo Nation.”
Officials of the Phoenix Greater Area (Maricopa) on Wednesday mentioned that the state will being to see the full effect of the extreme rise in cases in the following week - and the toll it will take on hospitals.
So far, more than 30% of the cases that have been identified in the Phoenix area have been found in the last 7 days - officials said on the Facebook news conference; in total, we have reached 37,135 cases.
Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine said that we are now seeing on average 1,800 cases per day; which is rising daily - which is pushing us to determine how we can manage this situation based on urgency.
Maricopa County; which includes Phoenix, Mesa, Glendale, Tempe, and Scottsdale began mandating masks again when visiting business or out in public (if possible) - shortly after the 6 weeks statewide stay-at-home order expired.
Dr. Sunenshine said that the officials do respect people's decision in terms of what they want or do not want to do for safety but making the decision to wear a mask will significantly reduce the number of daily cases; making the lives of doctor's and nurses at hospitals easier in the coming weeks.
Currently, the ADHS has reported a total of 63,000 cases with nearly 1,500 deaths in the state with testing reaching just over 600,000 in both public and private labs.