5 Arizona mayors call for bigger moves from Ducey to fight COVID-19
Jul 9, 2020, 4:19 PM | Updated: 7:56 pm

(Facebook Photo/Mayor Kate Gallego)
(Facebook Photo/Mayor Kate Gallego)
PHOENIX – A group of five Arizona mayors calling for new state policies to combat the spread of coronavirus, including Phoenix’s Kate Gallego, didn’t get much of what they wanted from Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday.
Gallego, Tucson’s Regina Romero, Tempe’s Corey Woods, Tolleson’s Anna Tovar and Flagstaff’s Coral Evans issued a joint statement with their wish list less than an hour before Ducey revealed limited policy changes during a press conference.
Ducey ordered restaurants to keep occupancy below 50% of capacity and announced plans to ramp up COVID-19 testing.
Increased testing was among the mayors’ requests, but beyond that Ducey’s moves fell short of their goals.
I'm joining @MayorGallego, @Coral4AZ, @AnnaTovarAZ, and @coreywoodstempe, in asking @dougducey to take statewide action on COVID-19:
✅Statewide mask requirement
✅Increase testing + contact tracing
✅Additional statewide closures of venues w/ high potential for transmission pic.twitter.com/16nKlXPyc6— Regina Romero (@TucsonRomero) July 9, 2020
With restaurants, the mayors got half of their request for Ducey to fully ban dine-in service.
But restaurants aren’t the only businesses the mayors wanted to see addressed. They also want Ducey to close down the state’s barbershops, hair and nail salons and other unspecified “venues with high potential for transmission.”
The mayors also want Ducey to enact a statewide face mask requirement.
After maintaining total control over state’s response since the start of the pandemic, Ducey gave local governments the authority to implement face mask requirements on June 17.
Many municipalities – including the five cities whose mayors petitioned the governor Thursday – quickly enacted face mask requirements after getting the authority to do so.