ARIZONA, USA — As we enter the holidays, a time when many of us reflect on the year that is drawing to a close, it will be hard not to think that 2020 will go down as one of the most frightening years in modern times.
With each passing day, the death toll from COVID-19 rises. But unlike our ancestors who lived through the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic, where it was un-American not to wear a mask, in 2020 it is a political hot potato.
To wear a mask or not to wear one? To shut down businesses where people gather, or to let life go on in the hopes of keeping the economy strong? To send our kids to school or ask them to learn from home?
These are the questions that have been the subject of debate in almost every household across the country, and there are no easy answers.
But, the number 10 million is very sobering. That’s the milestone we passed as a nation this week with the number of COVID-19 cases in America. We have also lost almost a quarter of a million people to this deadly virus.
That’s why when Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs tweeted this week that “the media is fear-mongering and helping to lock you down and take away your freedoms” I decided that I’d had enough.
Our job is to keep the public informed in times of crisis. This is irrefutably a crisis of epic proportions.
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Remembering the Arizonans we lost to COVID
More than 6,000 people in Arizona have died from COVID-19. Here’s a look back at a few of the Arizonans we lost to the coronavirus.