Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) said on Twitter Sunday the escalating coronavirus crises in the Grand Canyon state is the “direct result of poor decision making and failed leadership.”
Arizona has emerged as a new national hot spot for the coronavirus, recording more than 4,400 new cases from Friday through Sunday.
“It’s spreading like wildfire,” Rep. Greg Stanton (D-Ariz.) said on Twitter Sunday, noting Arizona’s infection rate is now more than three times higher than New York state.
Arizona’s infection rate reached 60.5 per 100,000 people, compared with New York’s 12.5 per 100,000, according to Johns Hopkins University data. The Grand Canyon state has reported 36,844 cases, with 1,014 newly reported cases on June 15. The current death toll sits at 1,194.
“It didn’t have to be this way. This escalating crisis is the direct result of poor decision making and failed leadership. Now, more Arizonans are in harm’s way and local economies are at a greater long-term risk,” Stanton tweeted.
The state began seeing an uptick in cases in early June, just a few weeks after lifting its stay-at-home order.
The former director of the Arizona Department of Health Services last week said the lifting of the stay-at-home order is “definitely related” to the rise in cases and hospitalizations.
“You see this steady incline in the number of new cases relative to total cases and it’s attributable to the drop in the stay-at-home order,” Will Humble, former agency director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, told Phoenix New Times.
Stanton on his official Twitter account outlined five steps that should be taken going forward to help curb the coronavirus spread in the state.
He called for masks to be required in public places where social distancing is impossible, providing businesses with reopening guidelines, expanded testing and quicker results and the prioritization of contact tracing. Stanton also called for weekly testing for health care workers, nursing home and assisted living facility employees, even if they do not exhibit symptoms.
Other states including Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Oregon, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah are experiencing rises in infections. Utah and Oregon put their plans to continue reopening on hold, as other states are continuing to move forward with easing coronavirus restrictions.