In Arizona, the coronavirus raged. With masks and other measures, it subsided. What can it teach?

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Tue, 2020-11-03 11:58 — mike kraft

In Arizona, the coronavirus raged. With masks and other measures, it subsided. What can it teach America? In Arizona, some jurisdictions are lifting mask mandates, fraying nerves among some observers who say such loosening is premature. Karin Brulliard, Jeremy Duda Washington Post

As temperatures in Arizona shot toward their summer peaks, so did the state’s coronavirus crisis. Lines for drive-up testing snaked for blocks in June. Hospitals were running out of beds, bodies were being stored in coolers, and the state’s per capita caseload topped global charts.

But by mid-August, the Southwest hot spot made a remarkable reversal. Cases plummeted 75 percent.

Arizona has maintained relatively low case numbers since, but they are now creeping to levels seen just a few weeks before its summer surge. And as a conflagration engulfs the Midwest and Mountain West, public health experts and elected officials in Arizona are pleading with residents to maintain mitigation measures they say played a critical role in beating back the virus and hold lessons for other states — including mask mandates that covered 85 percent of the population. ...

“The mask ordinances should stay in place until we get pretty wide distribution of the vaccine,” said Will Humble, a former state health department director who now leads the Arizona Public Health Association. “The return on investment is off the charts. The only thing that it costs is political capital.”

That emphasis on face coverings echoes intensifying calls by public health experts nationwide amid growing evidence of masks’ effectiveness in reducing transmission — and signs that a pandemic-weary population and battered economy may not tolerate widespread shutdowns. ...

Arizona’s comeback did not coincide solely with masks. Gov. Doug Ducey (R) in late June limited public events and temporarily closed bars, gyms and theaters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted in a recent report that highlighted the state’s recovery. ...

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