ADDENDUM:
Governor Ducey made a "Directive to stay home" on 3/30/20. The essential services have stayed the same.
I have received hundreds of messages from our community that this is not enough and I agree. These messages come from large numbers of hairstylists, construction workers, realtors, electricians, sales employees, and more. So the petition stays open.
At noon today on Channel 3 he was asked twice the direct question, "How can you social distance, stay 6 feet apart, when you are at a nail salon or hair salon?" He could not answer that question!!
He did respond, "the objective is NOT to shut down businesses, the idea is to socially distance." Really?... How can you do that getting your nails &/or your hair done? Makes absolutely no sense at all.
Governor Ducey has the information, has the data, and is consciously making a decision to keep unnecessary businesses (golf courses, hair salons, nail salons, construction sites (not involved in COVID19 relief) and more) open. This allows the virus to spread more. HE WILL BE RESPONSIBLE for the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of deaths in our Arizona community.
HE WILL NOT BE ABLE TO PASS THE BLAME and say he followed the wrong model, the wrong graph or had the wrong information. I know for a fact he has had a multitude of calls, emails, letters and messages via social media from hundreds of physicians daily advising him what to do. He has been told, but can he not figure it out himself? Look at NY, CA, NJ, LA, MI, and IL - it is in our country, it is next door, it is so obvious what is going to happen.
This disaster is coming and he is delaying taking any kind of strong action. He claims the economy needs to keep going. He obviously cares about money more than human life. That being said, the economy is still worse off doing what he is doing. THE ECONOMY WILL TAKE LONGER TO GET BACK TO NORMAL the longer he does not shut down this virus. That means "social distancing" will last longer and jobs will still be limited.
The deaths that occur in the next month because hospital space is limited, ventilators are not available, lack of PPE exposes health care workers who get COVID19 and then are not available (or dead) and lack of tons of other resources IS ON YOU GOVERNOR DUCEY!
Do what is right, moral, ethical and actually financially smart as well: CLOSE ALL NON ESSENTIAL SERVICES THAT ARE TRULY NON ESSENTIAL!
200,000 of us now hold you accountable for the number of COVID19 positive cases over the next 4-6 weeks, the least you can do is save some lives and change your list of essential services now.
JulieAnn Heathcott M.D.