In Henry Thomson's Arizona home town, the easing of lockdown rules causes a minor stir, but most people seem genuinely respectful of the continuing need to take the virus threat seriously

America is slowly emerging from the Covid-19 lockdown. But as restrictions on gatherings and businesses are lifted, divisions are opening between those who are most concerned about the direct health consequences of the virus and those who want to limit the economic damage of the stay-at-home orders. This is unsurprising: the United States is in an era of heightened political polarisation, and during a presidential election year no issue will be immune from partisan competition.

In Arizona, Governor Ducey allowed most retailers to re-open last week. This week, restaurants, hair salons and gyms can resume normal services, and even movie theaters can go back to business on Saturday – although Hollywood is not releasing any new blockbusters until July, and classic films like Back to the Future are being used to entice viewers into what now seem like ominously crowded spaces.

Not everyone is leaping to get back to work – one local pizza chain decided that opening their dining rooms is not worth the risk to employees and customers when their takeaway and delivery business is thriving. Other restaurants intend to reopen with limited seating, staff in masks and gloves, and menus sanitised after every use.

It is also not clear how many willing customers are out there. As I gratefully sat for a haircut at my local barber yesterday, the phone was ringing off the hook with people booking appointments. But a 93-year-old also in need of a trim nervously asked the proprietor to please wear a mask as he sat down in the chair next to me. Readers will be relieved to learn that the barber, whose black leather biker vest is covered in patches venerating the US military and 2nd Amendment, happily complied.

My elderly neighbour was right: It is clear that we have reason to be nervous, about both the virus and the economy.

There are extremists on both sides, of course, and they certainly make good copy for local journalists. A group of protesters – a small group, wearing masks and gloves and fastidiously maintaining adequate social distancing – demonstrated against the state’s re-opening in front of the state Capitol in downtown Phoenix on Tuesday. With one of their number dressed as the grim reaper, standing in front of an array of body bags symbolizing the dead victims of Covid-19, they asked Ducey to reconsider his decision to rescind his stay-at-home order.

At the other end of the spectrum, two café operators in the small town of Wickenburg, west of Phoenix, face potential legal action after opening for business last week in defiance of the Governor’s order. Along with several other retailers and café owners, they claim the rules violated their rights under the US Constitution and were worried they would not be able to pay their bills while shut down. The citizens of Wickenburg, named after a German prospector who discovered the richest gold mine in Arizona history nearby in 1863, seem supportive. Customers flocked to the establishments and rejected offers by staff to wear masks and restrict customer numbers as unnecessary. A former Marine traveled from northern Arizona to sit outside the Horseshoe Café all day Friday, to protect its owner from “potential threats.”

Arizona was recently in the national, and even international, news: President Trump made his first trip outside of Washington, DC for weeks to Phoenix last Tuesday. He toured a factory that has recently been repurposed from aerospace manufacturing – there is a relatively large defense industry in Arizona – to the production of respirator masks. He announced that his administration was releasing $600 million in federal aid to the Navajo nation, which is largely located in the northeast of our state and whose members have been shockingly afflicted by the pandemic. Their leaders hope to use the funds to respond to the current crisis, but also to address long-term needs around basic utilities and housing. I hope they are successful on both fronts.

Readers will be unsurprised to learn that Trump’s very brief visit – he was only in town for a few hours – laid bare the political divisions around government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic. The president was criticised by media for not wearing a mask in the factory, while a local print journalist was harassed by Trump supporters gathered outside for wearing one. But overall, compared to the president’s previous tub-thumping rallies here in Phoenix, the event passed relatively quietly.

The political fault lines over the Covid-19 response are beginning to crystallise and remind us that we have an election coming up in November. Honeywell’s respirator mask factory is not the only reason Trump’s first major trip since March was to Arizona. He has been a frequent visitor to our state since 2015 and won only narrowly by around three percentage points here in 2016. There is also a US Senate race kicking off that is one of the most competitive in the nation. For reasons I will have more than enough opportunity to discuss here between now and November, Arizona is an important battleground state in US national politics in 2020.

However, for now, Americans remain stuck in an unprecedented and uncertain situation, and our daily lives are dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic. At my university, the semester has ended without the usual prizegiving events and celebrations in the football and basketball stadiums. Instead, we had a virtual graduation (or convocation, as they call it here) with brief remarks uploaded by the university President to YouTube and students’ names displayed in a lengthy PowerPoint presentation.

Graduating Sun Devils are probably feeling more than a little let down, and it is hardly surprising that large groups of them let off some steam at a local bar as soon as the stay-at-home-order was lifted. Footage of the socialising students, who were not as fastidious in their social distancing on the rooftop patio as the grim reaper and co. in front of the state Capitol, was captured by a local TV news helicopter. As the country slowly returns to normal it seems that, perhaps, some things have not changed.

Henry Thomson is originally from Amberley, North Canterbury and is now an Assistant Professor of Political Economy at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the political economy of authoritarian rule and transitions to democracy. You can read more about his research here and follow him on Twitter @HenryRThomson. His earlier letters are here.