Governor Ducey Announces Local Officials Can Mandate Face Coverings

On Wednesday afternoon, Governor Ducey announced that Arizona’s mayors are free to mandate face coverings in public to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The decision, effective immediately, applies to local officials across the state. Previously, the governor was hesitant to allow mayors to enforce such a mandate not in line with statewide policy.

Wednesday’s announcement comes after growing calls from leaders within the healthcare community for the state to take more aggressive action against the virus. Roughly 10,000 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported by the Arizona Department of Health Services in the last week. Tuesday alone saw a record increase of 2,392 new cases.

In the hours following Governor Ducey’s announcement, the mayors of Phoenix, Tucson, and several other cities said that mandatory face-covering policies were already being considered.

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