AZ sheriff who defied state lockdown orders now has COVID-19

(KYMA, KECY, CNN)- When Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey extended the state's stay-at-home order into mid-May, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb countered that the policy had gone on long enough.

"The numbers don't justify the actions anymore," he told The Arizona Republic in early May.

"Three hundred deaths is not a significant enough number to continue to ruin the economy."

Lamb said he would talk to residents in the jurisdiction near Phoenix about complying with the order. But he wouldn't criminally enforce it.

"I think people want to know that we're going to support their constitutional rights," he told the newspaper. "I felt (Ducey) pushed me into a position where I needed to make our stance clear."

Less than two months later, the sheriff announced Wednesday that he had tested positive for Covid-19.

"Unfortunately, as a law enforcement official and elected leader, we do not have the luxury of staying home," Lamb wrote on Facebook. "This line of work is inherently dangerous, and that is a risk we take when we sign up for the job. Today, that risk is the COVID-19 virus."

The sheriff said he was invited to an event Tuesday at the White House and was screened. Though he was asymptomatic, he tested positive for the coronavirus. Lamb likely got infected at a June 14 reelection event, he said.

Video from the event, in San Tan Valley, Arizona, shows Lamb greeting and interacting with supporters, according to the Casa Grande Dispatch.

Neither the sheriff nor the event's attendees wear masks in the video, it shows. Lamb will self-quarantine for at least 14 days, he said Wednesday.

The Pinal County Public Health Department was working to track everyone he came into contact with after the campaign event, he said.