NOGALES, AZ — Nogales Mayor Arturo Garino has sent a letter to Governor Doug Ducey, asking that he be authorized to require residents in his city to wear masks in public in an effort to fight the spread of coronavirus.
"We applaud your efforts to encourage people to follow the CDC guidelines, but we see that in our community, the message is simply not getting through," Mayor Garino said in the Monday letter.
Read the full letter below.
Mayor Garino said the rate of coronavirus spreading in the Nogales community is concerning, and he's hoping to be able to enact a mandate for residents to be required to wear face coverings when out in public places or in instances when social distancing is not possible.
According to data from the Arizona Department of Health Services, as of Monday, the 85621 zip code in Nogales reported the fourth highest number of positive total cases among Arizona zip codes, at 544. Santa Cruz County, where the city of Nogales is located along the southern border, currently is reporting a 24.6% positive rate, the highest total percent positive rate of all the counties in our state.
Ducey has not mandated that people wear face coverings in public despite growing numbers of positive cases around our state and national attention about the increased spread.
Ducey repeatedly mentioned in a news conference Thursday that state and local hospitals are prepared to respond as the number of positive coronavirus cases in our state continues to rise.
