PHOENIX (AP) – The Doug Ducey government on Thursday lifted restrictions remaining in Arizona to reduce coronavirus, banning government masked mandates and allowing bars and nightclubs closed for months to open their doors without restrictions.
The Republican governor noted increased vaccination rates and the opening of vaccination schedules for all adults, as well as a declining number of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations. His decision was welcomed by business interests and Republican officials and condemned by public health experts and Democrats.
Ducey encouraged the continued use of masks, especially among unvaccinated groups of people. Its latest executive order allows companies to apply mask mandates and distancing requirements if they wish, but cities, towns and counties must pick up theirs.
Restrictions on gatherings of 50 or more people have also been lifted, but organizers are obliged to “encourage” safety measures, such as social distancing.
“I am confident that businesses and citizens in Arizona will continue to practice core practices and act responsibly as we gradually return to normal,” Ducey said in a statement.
The reaction fell largely on partisan lines, with Republican lawmakers and mayors hailing Ducey’s move, and Democrats call it premature and politically motivated.
House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Mesa Republican, called it a “fair and responsible decision” in a statement released by Ducey’s office.
“Better late than never,” Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita wrote on Twitter, urging an end to the emergency declaration that gives Ducey the power to impose health restrictions. “For all (Arizonans) who have suffered so much during this year’s closing, we are slowly but surely coming.”
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, a Democrat, said Ducey’s decision “directly contradicts the best scientists in the field.”
“Abandoning precautions now is like throwing the ball on the 5-meter line,” Gallego wrote on Twitter. “We know that new variants are circulating. The risk of another increase is real. Clearly, the governor cares much less about the people of Arizona than about his political future. “
Arizona’s large hospital chains, which have crammed into extra beds and expanded their staff to cope with the growth of COVID-19 patients last summer and winter, said Ducey’s mitigation measures worked. They urged people to continue to take precautions.
“A downward trend is not synonymous with eliminating the virus,” hospital executives said in a statement to Arizona’s Health System Alliance, which represents chains including Banner, Dignity and HonorHealth.
Ducey resisted pressure to implement a statewide mask warrant last year, even though the virus spread rapidly and hospitals became overcrowded. He eventually allowed local governments to require face coverings and most did.
Ducey says local mask warrants have rarely been enforced; mayors say they played a key role in getting people to follow the recommendations of public health experts, who said masks are essential in limiting the spread of the virus. Tucson Mayor Regina Romero has said she has no plans to lift her city’s masked mandate, creating a potential conflict between the mayor’s power and the governor’s.
Arizona has twice experienced outbreaks that were among the worst in the world at the time, but more recently, there has been a significant improvement in viral values. About a quarter of the Arizona population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination and about 16% are completely inoculated. The two most common vaccine varieties require two doses for complete protection.
Ducey opened vaccination schedules for anyone 16 and older on Monday, but it will take time for people to catch fire. About 40,000 to 60,000 people received photos each week last week, a mixture of the first and second doses.
The state reported on Thursday 138 additional cases confirmed by COVID-19, the lowest daily increase reported in more than six months. The state reported an additional 81 cases on September 8, between the rise last summer and the worst in the fall and winter, when daily case reports reached 17,000.
Another 32 deaths were reported on Thursday, raising the state’s total pandemic to 16,874.
Arizona’s seven-day averages of new daily cases and daily deaths continued to decline, according to Johns Hopkins University data.
The daily average of new cases fell by more than half in the past two weeks to just over 500 on Tuesday, while deaths fell by nearly a third to 36.6, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Ducey also faced continued pressure to reject the state of a proposed vaccination site run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the Tucson area. The decision angered officials in southern Arizona. The Pima County Supervisory Board voted Wednesday to urge him to reconsider, a request repeated Thursday by the five Democrats in the US House of Representatives in Arizona.
Pressed by Tucson reporters on Wednesday, Ducey said it would be more effective for FEMA to provide the state with the 6,000 doses a day it would administer.
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Associated Press writer Paul Davenport contributed.