With signs that Arizona may be stabilizing, Governor Ducey advises Stay the Course at his latest Press Conference

Today’s Ducey press conference was not the disaster last weeks was (although he really had nowhere to go but up in performance.)

Armed with data, backed by organizations like CNN, the New York Times, and Johns Hopkins University that the COVID 19 situation in Arizona may be stabilizing and starting to decline, a more confident Governor thanked all the health care workers in the state for all their hard work these last several weeks and urged people to stay the course and keep on:

• Staying at Home
• Social distancing if you have to do out.
• Washing your hands.
• Wearing a mask.

While the Governor did not make news by issuing a stay at home order, mandate the wearing of masks, and decide on whether In-Person instruction at schools will still open on August 17, he did announce an extension on an eviction moratorium for COVID related individuals until October 31, 2020.

The Numbers

At the beginning of the conference, the Governor relayed the following up to date numbers:

• 134,614 total cases in Arizona.
• 3501 new cases as of June 28.
• 3249 new cases as of July 5.
• 2492 deaths as of yesterday.
• COVID 19 illnesses in emergency rooms have started to go down.
• COVID ICU bed use is going up.
• The percentage of positive tests “is trending down for the first time in a long time.”
• COVID use of ventilators increasing
• Testing is increasing.
• Testing positivity (should be below five percent) is at 18.90 percent (still too high.)
• Rate of Infectious Persons (want to be below one) Arizona was 1.1 last week. This week, it is .98
• Said that, overall, there is still hospital capacity (although there are probably some spots in the state that are already at their limit.)
• Overdoses and suicides are also on the rise.

Mr. Ducey also thanked Michael Crow and ASU for introducing salvia based testing

He announced that there would be  strike force testing for 12 straight days at Maryvale High School and South Mountain

Finally, he Touted $6.7 billion out in state aid towards Arizona localities plus 50 million towards the state health fund. (he did not include what he has withheld from the cities and towns from CARES Act funding.)

 Moving Forward

Currently, Arizona is faring better than other recent hot spots like California, Florida, and Texas.

While Governor Ducey continued his revisionist history on the incubation period before the COVID 19 surge in June, he proclaimed that the state is in the “new normal” with regards to the Coronavirus and indicated he would continue the preventive measures he had already declared in minimizing large gathering contact like closing bars.

He thanked the Mayors (the ones that mandated wearing masks) and people who have followed up on taking steps to stem the tide of the virus, saying at one point that there is “no substitute for masking up, physically distance, wash hands, and staying home.” (He later even called it one’s patriotic duty)

Declaring “there is no end sight and there will be no victory laps,” Ducey said we “need to continue to do what we are doing.”

With trends starting to go in the right direction, he said: “positive personal actions and responsibilities will make a difference and better results, press on, stay the course… we want to push that decline further”

He also:

• Reaffirmed his goal to have 60,000 tests a day by the end of August.
• Announced an initiative for people over 65 and the medically vulnerable to obtain free masks starting Friday, July 17.
• Said that he would be further discussing the in-person reopening of schools with Superintendent Kathy Hoffman and other education stakeholders. He hinted that a decision on a firmer reopening date may be determined by next week.
• Repeatedly said he would be guided by public health recommendations on the issue of children and schools.

Question and Answer Session

This week’s question and answer session went smoother than the one on July 9, 2020. Again, given last week’s debacle, it would not have taken much improvement.

Among the Governor’s strong responses to questions, he said:

• “I’m going to focus on the public health and do what is right for Arizonans” when asked if he agreed with the White House position that science should not govern if schools reopen.
• Despite the mishandling of the surge over the last two months, he is confident in Dr. Crist and his team, saying everyone has the luxury to view things in hindsight (which frankly is fecal matter. Articles were written in May warning that opening the state was a big health risk.)
• Congress would come through with another stimulus measure for unemployment assistance and state aid.
• Said people may have a legitimate reason to be unemployed In response to a question whether people should be cut off unemployment insurance so they could be forced to work.
• That the extremists on both the left (lock everything up) and the right (total freedom and individuals spearheading a recall effort) are very loud but he is going to be guided by public health (we will see.)
• He had a willingness to work with the legislature on law enforcement reform.
• There would be a diverse membership of both political parties on the redistricting commission.

On several questions, the Governor and Crist seemed to evade and hedge their bets on the subjects of:

• Weekly testing in nursing homes where Crist said they were still planning (what is taking so long.)
• The storing of dead bodied in mobile freezer units.
• Why not follow the CDC guidelines on having only 25 percent dine in service at restaurants.
• Why not force state hot spots like Prescott to wear masks. The Governor said that hopefully, the local leaders will learn that their position is not the correct one and change their policy. He should not be so accomodating and just institute a statewide mask-wearing mandate. 
• The snail’s pace of getting assistance to renters

Before the Press Conference, Mayors Coral Evans (Flagstaff,) Kate Gallego (Phoenix,) Regina Romero (Tucson,) and Anna Tovar (Tolleson) sent a letter to the Governor asking him again to mandate the wearing of masks across the state.

Ducey should follow their advice.

They have been right on virtually everything else regarding this Pandemic.

 

Thanks to the actions of the majority of the Grand Canyon state’s residents, health care professionals, and leadership (including enlightened Mayors and, even to some small extent, Governor Ducey,) Arizona may be turning a corner in the right direction in the quest to stem the Coronavirus surge.

While Mr. Ducey is too frightened of his science-denying Fox Island-Trump Zone fringe base to mandate people wear masks across the state (something for the good of the people he should get over,) hopefully, he is sincere when he says this is the new normal and will not do anything stupid and take steps in the next few weeks that make the situation worse like he did when he reopened the state in May.

Hopefully.

Please click below to watch the full Ducey press conference.