Jan Brewer says Arizona Gov. Ducey needs to step up coronavirus actions

PHOENX – Former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer said Gov. Doug Ducey has fallen short and disappointed Arizonans in the way he’s handled coronavirus.

“He’s gonna have a lot of people very disappointed and very upset at him because I think that they surely know that the people of the great state of Arizona, they’re not happy, I mean, even supporters are not happy,” Brewer told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad Show on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Arizona health officials reported 3,259 new coronavirus cases and 58 additional deaths, pushing the state’s totals to 134,613 COVID-19 cases and 2,492 fatalities. It also marked the sixth time in the last seven days that Arizona reported at least 50 coronavirus deaths.

“He needs to step it up. He needs to tell us what we’re going to do differently,” Brewer said.

Brewer said she’s frustrated with the governor’s actions so far and hopes he’ll listen to health officials to offer guidance on pressing issues, like how to handle students returning to the classroom this fall and ramping up testing efforts.

“It is something that we’ve never dealt with before, but the information is out there, and you’ve got the advice of people about what needs to be done. He just needs to pull the trigger and get it done,” Brewer said.

On June 29, Ducey issued an executive order to close bars, nightclubs, gyms, movie theaters and water parks for at least 30 days to slow the spread of coronavirus.

Last week, he advised Arizonans in a press conference to stay home and watch Netflix as coronavirus numbers in the state continued to rise at an unprecedented rate.

In response, Brewer tweeted a screenshot from “Breaking Bad” with the subtitle, “No more half measures,” something she said Ducey needs to stop taking.

So I stayed home tonight and watched Netflix. Caught up on Breaking Bad episode “Half Measures.” Ends with this great line: “The moral of the story is I chose a half measure, when I should have gone all the way. I'll never make that mistake again. No more half measures.” pic.twitter.com/KYcJg2YS0F

— Jan Brewer (@GovBrewer) July 10, 2020

Ducey also pledged last week to ramp coronavirus testing up to 35,000 tests per day by the end of July and 60,000 per day by the end of August.

“He needs to really start leading our state out of this mess, and then he comes forward — I’m sorry, but to make that decree, if you will — that by the end of July he would have testing up to 30,000,” Brewer said. “You don’t make promises like that and not deliver.”

The former governor has previously called out Ducey for his actions in handling the coronavirus.

In April, she said his stay-at-home order “too confusing” and said he should’ve provided a clearer roadmap for how he was going to handle decisions.

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