10 p.m. curfew for the City of Tucson to prevent “catastrophic results”

Tucson begins a 10 p.m. curfew starting on Dec. 4 until Dec. 23, 2020. It is the city’s latest effort to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Why put forward a curfew?

“It was a decision that was made unanimously by mayor and council. We started seeing COVID numbers rise up again, two-three weeks ago, and, as the mayor of the City of Tucson, I have a responsibility to take action when there is a public health safety affecting Tucsonian.”

Romero said the deciding factor was an argument made by ASU and UA modeling teams, which proposed “catastrophic results” if policymakers do not take mitigation strategies. This put Romero in a “high-gear” alert as she contacted state health experts such as the CEOs of Tucson Medical Center and UMC Banner and the Pima County Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen.

How will the curfew be enforced?

“There will be enforcement in the City of Tucson of our curfew,” said Romero who is confident that the force can handle it, citing experience from Ducey’s curfew during the George Floyd protests earlier this year. Romero told the enforcers to take an “educational” stance and educate civilians of the curfew and its importance, only penalizing with a civil penalty upon “blatant disregard” of the measure.

What it means going forward

“This is something we will not take lightly,” said Romero, emphasizing the $10 million economic relief package the City of Tucson put forward to aid the community.

Romero said the goal was to mitigate the surge of COVID cases that are bound to come in during the holiday season when hospitals are already overwhelmed with patients.

“If we don’t control COVID-19, we are going to see the surge and see businesses affected,” Romero said. “It is a vicious cycle if we don’t get this under control.”