AzHHA along with other healthcare partners have filed an amicus brief in support of the Governor’s Executive Order closing bars to slow the exponential spread of COVID-19. The brief outlined the profound and troubling impact of COVID on Arizona’s healthcare system, and that temporarily closing bars is supported by science and public health and was the right thing to do. Below is an excerpt:

“As all are painfully aware, our nation faces a public health emergency caused by the exponential spread of COVID-19 . . . .” In re Abbott, 954 F.3d 772, 779 (5th Cir. 2020). History will ultimately judge our response and ability to meet this ongoing emergency. And if rising COVID-19 cases and hospital bed and resource usage continue to exist alongside near-daily images of packed bars and clubs, we will find ourselves on the wrong side of that judgment. The Healthcare Amici wish to continue to provide full-spectrum healthcare services to Arizonans, a task made more difficult when a global pandemic rages on and high-transmission venues like bars remain open. As in Globe, “[t]he emergency calls forth the occasion to exercise the power to protect the public health.” 20 Ariz. at 218. The emergency exists, the Governor has taken a reasonable step to protect public health, and his authority to do under exigent circumstances should not be disturbed.