By Ronald J. Hansen | Arizona Republic
Everyone agrees Arizona is in the midst of a swell in COVID-19 cases. But increasingly, the response from the state’s leaders is sharpened rhetoric falling along partisan lines.
Democrats and their preferred health experts see a lack of leadership from Gov. Doug Ducey, while Republicans and their preferred experts maintain the state’s numbers are misinterpreted amid ginned-up hysteria.
The back-and-forth has brewed for days, if not weeks, but has intensified as Arizona gains unwanted attention as a national hot spot for the coronavirus.
“We’re heading in the wrong direction, and we have a secondary problem, that we have a lack of leadership coming from the state Capitol,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., during a video conference with reporters on Monday.
“It’s important for members of the public to do their own research & ignore the contrived hysteria from the left & media,” he wrote.
