A new study by the Arizona Public Health Association has found that COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in Arizona during the coronavirus pandemic, beating out heart disease.
Arizona recorded more than 20,000 COVID-related deaths from March 2020 to mid-October 2021. The finding is in contrast to states with similar populations where COVID was only the third-leading cause of death.
Will Humble, executive director of APHA says Gov. Doug Ducey’s failure to embrace strict mitigation policies contributed to the state having more COVID deaths than Colorado and Washington state.
In March, Ducey lifted capacity limits for gyms, restaurants, and several other types of businesses and the state school superintendent criticized Ducey’s decision to drop masking rules in schools back in April.
Ducey has even threatened legal action against cities that enacted masking mandates of their own. By comparison, Washington state, which has a similar population to Arizona’s 7.2 million, recorded only 8,200 COVID deaths over the same time period, while Colorado, which has about 1.5 million fewer people than Arizona, recorded about 7,900 COVID-related deaths.
