Ducey's attempt to hand-wave away our COVID crisis only highlights his failure

Maybe if Doug Ducey had donned a brown hooded robe or grown a trim white beard, his Obi Wan Kenobi impression would have worked and the Jedi mind trick he tried to pull off Monday would have been successful.

Instead, the governor’s declarations that all was fine in Arizona and there is nothing more to be done about COVID-19 only highlighted the fact that everything isn’t fine and there is so much more that could be done — and that Ducey’s goal has always been first and foremost to avoid alienating political allies and not to ensure the health and safety of Arizonans.

Speaking to lawmakers via live-stream from his office because there was no safe way for 90 lawmakers and the governor to gather in the same room because the pandemic is spiraling out of control, Ducey correctly said that “the pandemic remains the most significant threat we face, and it will require vigilant attention for months to come.”

Then he turned to defending his record on the pandemic.

Let’s review that record, shall we? As he spoke, there had been 627,000 confirmed cases and 10,147 deaths. Way back in March, Ducey was slow to act and foolishly barred cities from requiring masks in public, but ultimately made the courageous decision to close down wide swaths of the state to “flatten the curve.” But then he opened too soon — cowering before a potential revolt of legislative Republicans and right before Donald Trump was set to come to town, naturally — and we saw a spike of cases in short order.

Read more: https://www.azmirror.com/2021/01/13/duceys-attempt-to-hand-wave-away-our-covid-crisis-only-highlights-his-failure/