June 13, 2020

The Honorable Doug Ducey, Governor
State of Arizona
1700 West Washington St.
Phoenix, Arizona 85007

RE:

Local Control of Health Measures during COVID-19 Health Crisis

Governor Ducey,
The four counties that cover Arizona’s border with Mexico, Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz
and Yuma Counties, along with the Cities of San Luis and Somerton are experiencing
very high rates of confirmed cases of COVID-19, severely impacting the health and
wellbeing of our residents and our communities. To that end, we are committed to taking
the necessary steps to help prevent the continued spread of this deadly virus.
We have all been tirelessly advocating that our residents adhere to the Centers for
Disease Control (CDC) guidelines, including the washing of hands, avoiding close
contact, and wearing of facemasks around others. And perhaps the most significant one
of these is the ability for people to wear facemasks in public and when social proximity
cannot be avoided. But the reality is that since the state relaxed the Stay at Home
Executive Order, many residents have interpreted this to mean that the danger is over.
We applaud your efforts to encourage people to follow the CDC guidelines but, what we
see on the ground and in our communities is that the message is simply not getting
through. Our rates of confirmed cases of COVID-19 are growing and we just do not see
any signs of the rates leveling off in the near future.
We also wanted to point out that the data provided through the Arizona Department of
Health Services (ADHS) is typically one or two days behind what we see at home. Thus,
in real time, the situation is actually worse than what is reported. We understand that

 The Honorable Douglas Ducey
Re: Local Control of Health Measures during COVID-19 Health Crisis
Page 2

ADHS is doing the best it can with the information that they have. But, in fact, as of last
night:



Santa Cruz County (as of June 11, 2020):
157% increase between June 1st and June 11th
914 Total Cases
97 New Cases
43 Hospitalizations
306 Recoveries
8 Deaths



Pima County (as of June 12, 2020):
3,628 Total Cases
149 New Cases
222 Deaths



Yuma County (as of June 11, 2020):
2942 Total Cases
178 New Cases
92 Hospitalizations
42 Deaths



Cochise County (as of June 11, 2020):
206 Total Cases
25 New Cases
14 Hospitalizations
84 Recovered
4 Deaths

Thus, the aforementioned Cities and Counties are asking that you provide the necessary
authorization for us to mandate the wearing of facemasks whenever our residents are in
public or in situations where social proximity cannot be avoided. We hope to be able to
deploy this measure by Tuesday of next week. We hope to hear from your office as soon
as possible. This mandate would not have any financial penalties associated with it, but
it would certainly garner the attention of the general public and, we hope, greatly increase
the number of people wearing facemasks. By mandating that people wear face masks,
we will slow the spread of the disease and lower the risk of losing more lives to this virus
as we seek to reopen our economy.
Sincerely,

 The Honorable Douglas Ducey
Re: Local Control of Health Measures during COVID-19 Health Crisis
Page 3

_________________________________
________________________________
The Honorable Sharon Bronson
Pima County
Arizona Border Counties Coalition

The Honorable Ann English
Cochise County
Arizona Border Counties Coalition

_________________________________
________________________________
The Honorable Bruce Bracker
Santa Cruz County Chairman
Arizona Border Counties Coalition

The Honorable Tony Reyes
Yuma County Chairman
Arizona Border Counties Coalition

_________________________________
________________________________
The Honorable Ramon Valadez
Pima County Chairman

The Honorable Gerardo Sanchez
City of San Luis Mayor

_________________________________
The Honorable Gerardo Anaya
City of Somerton Mayor