These Two Arizona Communities Are Living in Different Coronavirus Realities

[Music] love america greatest country in the world this is how we protest this is our protest we don't burn things down we don't destroy and close people's businesses this is how we do things it's independence day in apache junction we're supporting donald trump america and our freedoms so celebrating america no matter what no matter what what does that no matter what mean if there's a virus you know if people's morale is so low no matter what happens it's so important you know it's in our core heading into the holiday weekend arizona had 13 000 new coronavirus cases in three days the governor did ban groups of more than 50 people the local officials still plan to celebrate thanks everybody for coming out i just want to remind everybody most of the cities in the valley have canceled their fireworks but we have not and we're not exactly it's too important i thank you god for every person who's come to celebrate god restore the spirit of this country to what it once was god they're trading it for free things for socialism for a lie and they don't understand help us to teach them god in jesus name amen amen this is the last stop of the parade earlier this week the governor ordered the shutdown of bars and so what we're about to see for many is an act of defiance we are celebrating 4th of july nobody gonna take this one away from us we're going to fight to the till we die do you personally know anyone that's been affected by the virus my whole family and i went to went to asia at the end of the year last year and came back and were very sick for about a week but i haven't gone out and got an antibody test because i'm not stressed about it right um and i think that ultimately you've never gotten an antibody so um because i was sick back in december the more data we get the less terrible this looks people are starting to get tired of the the changes it's on the hard surface it's not on a hard surface don't wear a mask wear a mask people are becoming very fatigued and it's hard to believe it now and i think people want to get back to their lives and some of us are willing to take the risk but the danger is apache junction isn't far from arizona's epicenter it crosses into the county with the second highest number of cases in the country maricopa city hall so this is where the magic happens now this is where you make all your big decisions no i usually make them in the shower no really yeah right as i'm drifting off to sleep republican mayor jeff cerdy is more worried about the freedom of his constituents than the threat of a virus he says isn't living up to the media hype so when when you look at the stats right and and we know as of today that more than 1700 people have died in this state are you skeptical about those numbers yes yeah i don't think 1700 did i i i know that people have especially in certain uh segments of the population i know the navajo reservation got hit very bad and uh but it's it's mostly elderly people and i don't want to be cold and callous and say you know things but elderly people and people of color and overweight overweight people too and people with breathing problems too a lot of smokers and people like that are any of those people that you just named your constituents of course [Music] we know that a couple of weeks ago the governor allowed local leaders to mandate mass yes you decided not to do that walk me through the decision-making process behind that the first two weeks in yeah let's mask up let's shut it down and then it just kept going and getting extended and extended it's going to have to end somewhere people are going to have to learn to live with whatever this is we're dealt and i being a conservative libertarian type mayor i am not going to force anyone to wear something or do something i don't have the answers but i'm letting the people choose for themselves you're putting a lot of trust in your constituents yes and they're putting a lot of trust in you do you trust that you're making the right decision when it comes to their health i do yes and you'll notice how we have the cars spaced so you see people together it's a family unit so they're already infected do you think this sends a statement or a message to the governor yeah we're we're still pushing on just like remember after uh september 11th too remember how everybody was afraid to have events and then no we encourage people go out in business because if we stop having those events then the terrorists win this isn't terrorists i mean it's obviously a virus it's a virus terrorist but we're gonna try to go about a normal life and and and be free do you think this sends the right message to folks i mean does does this make people believe that there is no pandemic probably does yeah as normal as everything feels in apache junction the reality is that arizona now has more cases than canada it was one of the first states to reopen i want to encourage people to get out and about to take a loved one to dinner to go retail shopping within a month cases shot up by more than 400 percent so the governor backtracked he started limiting crowds and closing businesses like bars and gyms it all added to the confusion for officials just 30 miles from apache junction in the predominantly native american and latino town of guadalupe how hard has coven hit guadalupe guadalupe uh in the beginning of all this was five times higher than the maricopa county rate you're one of a few mayors in this state that decided to enforce a face mass mandate walk me through that decision we knew that we wanted them to protect themselves we're just looking to keep ourselves healthy do you think that you have the qualifications to be making public health decisions i personally do not think i'm qualified i think it's unfair that the mayors in each of our towns and cities had to do this on their own has the governor offered any help from the state level no and we're doing the best we can do his strategies take into account the racial inequities that exist in his own state i don't believe so when you have a home that is two bedrooms eight people living in it how do you quarantine the sick person and now minority communities the urban areas like ourselves are stepping up and doing it for ourselves [Music] now we're going to go to over there you feel like were hired by guadalupe's mayor to address a lack of support from the state and federal government i don't even think i told you but all five of him and his family oh my god positive they have full-blown symptoms they act as the town's promoters mother-like figures who educate people about kova 19 and deliver groceries to some of the town's nearly 6 000 people she said the dogs are tied up and they're not gonna do nothing don't close the gate on me this time okay so who's in this household right now the resident that is covered positive um her mother her daughter that's 22 her 12 year old her 11 year old and her four-year-old granddaughter so there's six people inside of this house one person that has a virus yes and she's self-isolating herself in her bedroom what are the chances that other people inside of this house will get the virus um it it is pretty scary because the problem with them is that they only have one restroom so we normally don't have any contact with the family other than on the phone we don't go in the house anything if we would we do have ppe at the office we would wear to go in here what do you think has led to this point i think that governor ducey on his own to me he's like a little donald trump clone whatever donald does he does as far as opening up the state i think he made a big mistake [Music] occasionally i'm asked to ring the bell when somebody dies and as a servant of the people i'm willing to do that if they ask me i do it this church is usually the lifeblood of guadalupe but now the door is mainly open to mourn the dead why is the church closed right now the church is the people the church is not a building if putting the people in a building would hurt the people that makes no sense at all do you know anyone that has passed away from the virus i buried the sixth one this week one of whom was michael made she suffered a lot i'm afraid do you have any fear at all that you're gonna have to be doing more of these with the pandemic i see no end in sight i don't see much intelligent direction coming from our governor nor our president we're basically taking care of ourselves since nobody else will this is for the one that's coming up on monday that grave was for guru sanchez we met his son the day he buried his father very healthy man very healthy so funny he highlighted my dad was a very awesome individual did your father get sick as governor ducey started reopening the state my dad trusted her government when they opened up the casinos he went to three casinos and shortly after that he got sick do you blame the government for your father's loss i blame the government for their carelessness because people like my father and a lot of arizonans trust what they say where do they lead you you know my dad's six feet under that's where they let him and why because a few politicians want to have their state not far away from here there's still people that will tell you to your face that this virus is harmless now that it's that it's blown out of proportion what do you tell those people i pray they don't lose someone like me but i believe that is the only way some of those people will learn the most difficult thing any son or daughter has to do is carry their time and i did it i got it done and i believe that's my dad's strength that he showed me how to be [Music] but after today i don't know i don't know how much time i can be out today [Music] two days after we spoke sanchez tested positive he's now one of arizona's more than 150 000 cases and not the only one who blames ducey we reached out to the governor for comment but he didn't respond [Music] [Applause] is [Music] what god will do with our nation but god will turn our nation back to christ amen [Music] what would you tell to other fathers and priests that think that the christian way is to stay home in order to keep their constituents safe not their judge they do whatever they think is right fine so it's up to people yeah absolutely we're not lawless we're not god doesn't bless a rebel we're not rebellious but we would we would meet somewhere if you don't do that i feel sorry for you do you tell to folks that are sick of kobe 19 or that have lost family members to the virus that are pleading people to abide by social distance guidelines or to abide by masks well being that i'm a survivor of kobet six weeks ago i'd say it's something you it's a legitimate disease pay attention to it again know the facts make your own decisions it's an individual's right if i force you to wear a mask now what do i force you to do tomorrow are you concerned at all that gatherings may be exposing people to the virus no i'm not worried why are you not worried because i trust that the lord is going to take care of me and he's going to provide many people think that religious freedom right now is at stake because of the pandemic right what does it mean to you that the state of arizona is preserving that right i think douchey must be a godly man just wants us to be careful and we are as careful as we can be but if we couldn't meet here we meet out there i mean scripture say forsake not to send anything of yourselves together don't tell me god didn't know about a virus you

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, news, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, vice news 2020, coronavirus, coronavirus pandemic, arizona coronavirus, trump rally, navajo nation covid, navajo nation, paola ramos vice

Id: LU5W8xx8pQk

Length: 16min 7sec (967 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 27 2020