Sedona Red Rock News David Jolkovski/Larson Newspapers Stop and go traffic on northbound State Route 179 is backed up past Chapel Road on Saturday afternoon, March 20. Saturday was the first day of spring. With the increase in vaccinations, the slowing spread of coronavirus, a decrease in case counts and hospitalizations, the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be waning. Last week, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey repealed many of the COVID-19 restrictions on businesses and gatherings that he imposed last year, ostensibly claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is over in Arizona, at least politically, allowing Ducey to avoid a revolt by Republican state legislators, stave off a public recall vote and take his long-promised âvictory lapâ to quietly set up his run for U.S. Senate in 2022.