Dear Governor Ducey,

The clergy and leaders of the Arizona Interfaith Network along with faith and congregational leaders throughout Arizona, implore you to maintain your Stay-at-Home Order. We appreciate that this is a difficult calculation to make, as economic pressures mount. We supported this measure last month and still feel emphatically that a more cautious approach is warranted before “re-opening” the state. Your current order, which expires at month’s end, has and will save lives. We urge you to stay the course and extend the order.

We are first-hand witnesses to the economic trauma caused by the distancing measures that are in place. Our congregants are small business owners, gig workers, employees in entertainment, personal services, manufacturing, construction, and the knowledge economy. So many have lost jobs and fear foreclosure, eviction, and food insecurity.  Faith institutions themselves have been battered by the stressed economy.

We are also spiritual home to those who are helping us resist and endure this dangerous threat: police, firefighters, EMTs, nurses, doctors and other medical personnel, grocery workers and many others. We recognize their work as essential to our well-being and are deeply grateful for the risks they take for all of us.

It is a false calculus that calls for tradeoffs between peoples’ lives and the markets in this dangerous moment. The economy should serve the common good and promote dignified, safe work, particularly for the most vulnerable. This a moral decision, not just a business decision. We must do all we can to save lives; life is irreplaceable. That said, we must make bold and determined commitments to ease the burdens that are the consequences of this need for isolation. This is the compassionate choice. We must choose to make sure all people have food and medical care, are safe from eviction from their homes and businesses, and will have sufficient funds to cover their bills until it is safe to go back to work. We must all commit ourselves to repairing and rebuilding our commonwealth. It, too, upholds our life.

There is not yet a clear and convincing, science-based case for easing up on the order in place. Strong testing programs and rigorous public health response systems have yet to emerge in widely accessible and equitable patterns. Our healthcare workers and front-line workers do not yet have the necessary protective equipment or workplace practices to sufficiently protect them.

The coronavirus will only be contained by broad testing and the application of our best public health measures. The disease will not cooperate with deadlines imposed by us. It will not respond to political calculations or wishful thinking, and neither should the state of Arizona.

Respectfully,