<p>"There's a lot of, 'You, you can't take my rights away from me' kind of feel to it," said hospice nurse Kayla Stutler. "'You can't tell me to wear a mask in a store. You're violating my constitutional rights.' There's a lot of that 'Freedom... America' kind of sentiment."</p><p>Stutler, who describes the state's attitude toward mitigation as "ridiculous run amok," got her first vaccine dose Dec. 27, two days before she became sick and tested positive herself.</p><p>"I was super mad because I'd almost made it through all of 2020," she said.</p><p>Stutler's husband also became ill, and the couple quarantined in their bedroom but their children -- ages 8, 7, 5 and 3 -- ended up testing positive on New Year's Day after experiencing symptoms.</p><p>The kids and Stutler's husband experienced only mild cases -- but she wasn't so lucky and was eventually hospitalized with breathing difficulties.</p><p>"The total bill? $15,389.41 and $4,528.53 (different hospitals)," she tweeted. "Thankful for extremely good health insurance I get through school but imagine if I didn't."</p><p>A longtime friend recently caught the virus and developed long-term blood-clotting problems at 32, which will likely require lifelong medication, and the friend's father died from COVID-19 in that family's outbreak -- and Stutler wishes Ward and other Arizona GOP leaders would finally get on board with pandemic mitigation efforts.</p><p>"It's like Russian roulette," Stutler said.</p>
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