Arizona governor: Cities to decide face mask use

Arizona mayors are free to make wearing face masks to slow the spread of coronavirus a mandatory requirement, Gov. Doug Ducey said Wednesday.

The Republican governor, who entered a news conference wearing a black face mask but took it off to speak, said giving cities the discretion to decide would work better than a statewide mandate. He also cited the vastly different rates of positive COVID-19 cases across counties.

"We are going to change and update guidance so that local governments can implement mask and face covering policies and determine enforcement," Ducey said.

The announcement comes after days of mounting pressure for Ducey to take action in the wake of the state's alarming rise in cases. Hundreds of Arizona medical professionals signed a letter calling on him to take steps like requiring face masks in public to slow a major increase that has made the state a national hot spot. The state’s biggest newspaper, The Arizona Republic, is also sounding alarms and calling for action.

The state's top Democratic politicians are on board, with everyone from U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema to mayors pushing for tougher action.

Ducey had previously resisted any kind of mandate. Since he allowed the state's stay-at-home and most business-closure orders to expire in mid-May, the second-term governor has taken no new steps to rein in activities like raging bar scenes and the lack of mask-wearing by many people in stores, restaurants and other public spaces.

The rising numbers may have forced his hand. Arizona hospitals were treating a record number of coronavirus patients Tuesday amid a surge of new cases. The state's Health Services Department reported a record number of emergency room visits for the virus as well.

The health agency confirmed 1,827 new cases and 20 new deaths Wednesday. That brings the total confirmed cases to 40,924 and deaths to 1,239.

Hospitals were treating 1,582 patients on Tuesday, an increase of more than 500 from two weeks earlier. Emergency room visits for patients with virus symptoms soared to nearly 1,100. On June 3, hospitals reported seeing 638 patients in emergency rooms.

Statewide Tuesday, hospitals were at 85% of capacity. That's well above the 80% rate where Ducey said they would have to halt elective surgeries to preserve space.

Ducey said last week he would enforce that order, but Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ said the department hadn't yet required a halt as officials review the capacity reports. The state reported a record of nearly 2,400 cases Tuesday.

More than 700 health providers sent Ducey the letter earlier this week urging him to require that people wear masks in public spaces.

Ducey has suggested the use of masks, but he so far has declined to issue a mandate. During a news briefing last week where he pushed back on questions about a mask mandate, the governor insisted that the state's hospitals, while filling up, had the capacity to treat any expected surge in virus patients.

Since the virus emerged in China late last year and spread worldwide, there have been more than 8 million confirmed cases and over 445,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University. Experts say the true toll is much higher. The U.S. death toll has exceeded 117,000.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.