The Mask War

When the COVID-19 pandemic started in the United States in March, masks were an optional rule for people to wear in public places. But when the cases started to spike after memorial day and 4th of July, the CDC finally suggested that masks were mandatory for all Americans to wear when going to public places to stop the spread of the virus. Although the mask does help with stopping the spread of the virus from others, it has become a political issue as the majority of the American public and President Trump disagreed that masks were helpful on COVID-19 safety. 

A masked person and a person not wearing a mask at a rally in St. Paul, Minnesota on June 27th.

In the months of April to the present month, many states in America had cases soared and glowing red zones of COVID-19. The concept of wearing masks to stop the spread of the virus became a unique kind of stupidity for the Americans who disagreed with the World Health Organization (WHO), the CDC, and health experts. This started a culture war on masks since videos were posted online and in the TV news showing angry individuals who were unmasked protesting on reopening the states, entering stores, and not practicing social distancing. Anti-masks tantrums of conspiracists attract the most attention as it sets the stage for a type of extreme individualism that extends to almost every aspect of a person’s life in America.

Secondly, the people who refused to wear masks states that it imposes their freedom which had nothing to do with the virus. In North Carolina, a group that disagrees with the shutdown of the state says that masks were “muzzles” and the way how mandatory temperature checks works were seen as “ways our freedom was eroded”. The rage over masks didn’t just spread through people, on social media angry individuals started a trend called “Burn Your Mask Challenge” where people posted videos of themselves burning their masks and posting the phrase “#IgniteFreedom”.

But in the end, the mask mandate became mandatory for all Americans as when Donald Trump wore the mask when visiting a military hospital on July 11th, 2020 as this encouraged others who follow Donald Trump to wear masks but not a lot of them. Trump still declined on mask mandate when he attended news conferences, coronavirus task force updates, and other public events. The people who were near or met him informed others that the president was concerned that the mask would look weak on him and that it would shift his focus to the public health crisis rather than economic recovery and re-election.

Although the mask itself won’t stop the virus, health experts and the CDC members still recommend and agree that the mask mandate was the only way to stop the transmission of the disease. The majority of Americans took the advice on mask mandate as Dr. Fauci mentioned that the mask should not be a political issue, it should be a public health issue and that everyone should wear the mask. In August according to the news media like CNN, some states were handling COVID-19 like California, Alaska, Texas, Michigan, Arizona, and New York. While other states were in the steady range and a few are in the red zone of the pandemic which shows a good sign of a decrease in the virus spreading. Since we are seeing the increase of COVID-19 cases and deaths, people should continue wearing masks in public places and should not make a complaint on the CDC or health experts.

Sources:

Aratani, Lauren. “How Did Face Masks Become a Political Issue in America?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 29 June 2020, www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/face-masks-us-politics-coronavirus.

Lemire, Jonathan. “Trump Wears Mask in Public for First Time during Pandemic.” AP NEWS, Associated Press, 11 July 2020, apnews.com/7651589ac439646e5cf873d021f1f4b6.

Lopez, Linette, et al. “The Great Mask War Is Finally Ending. It Was so Stupid.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 14 July 2020, www.businessinsider.com/good-people-finally-wearing-masks-pandemic-coronavirus-fight-was-dumb-2020-7.

Pan, J.C. “Conservative Austerity Created the Mask Wars.” The New Republic, 3 July 2020, newrepublic.com/article/158359/conservative-austerity-created-mask-wars.