PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey issued a slew of executive orders Tuesday in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including new restrictions on who can enter the state.
The new order requires anyone traveling to Arizona from any “area with substantial community spread through any airport in the state must isolate or quarantine themselves upon arrival for 14 days.”
Ducey’s order is not as severe as other states, such as Rhode Island which is stopping travelers at the state border and mandating quarantine for any who intend to stay in the state, or Dare County, N.C. which is prohibiting entry to any person not a permanent resident of the county, including denying entry to vacation property owners.
In his other executive orders, Ducey relaxed regulations on restaurants, allowing restaurants to sell, without permit, grocery items, “including, but not limited to: paper goods, cleaning supplies, prepared food in bulk, and meat and vegetables whether or not those items are normally packaged for resale or are raw provided that certain provisions are followed.”
He also ordered staff of in-patient care facilities, residential nursing care institutions and related health care facilities to use appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), implement symptom checks for those entering the facility and offer electronic communication if visitation is restricted.
And hospitals and health-care facilities are now required to record and transmit to the state data involving facilities, number of ICU beds and ventilators in use for COVID-19 patients, the number of suspected COVID-19 cases entering the facility each day and how many PPEs are being used each day.
According to the order, “ADHS and local health authorities must share personnel, equipment, materials, supplies and other resources to assist in the implementation of this advisory.”
