WHO KNEW

COVID-19 Cases in Arizona Dropped 75% After Local Mask Mandates Enforced

“If they'd been allowed to do so earlier, a number of those jurisdictions ... would have had those mandates in place earlier and our peak of infection would have been lower.”

Arizona—which at one point was one of the states hit hardest by COVID-19— saw a 75 percent decrease in new cases of the virus following local face mask mandates, according to a report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Before the mandate and after a stay-at-home order was lifted, the daily average number of new cases had jumped by 151 percent, overwhelming the state's health care system. When Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey enforced a mask mandate, new cases sharply decreased. Former Maricopa County health director Dr. Bob England said that the order should have come earlier in order to slow the outbreak from happening in the first place. “If they'd been allowed to do so earlier, a number of those jurisdictions, if not all of them, would have had those mandates in place earlier and our peak of infection would have been lower,” he said.