Whether to wear face mask becomes increasingly political
As President Donald Trump passed through a mask-making Honeywell factory in Phoenix this week, he didn’t wear a mask, at least not in any place where he could be seen.
Outside the building, many in the small band of Trump supporters defiantly showed their faces in the midst of a pandemic. And some berated those in the media who wore masks, saying it was “fear-mongering.”
The decision of whether to wear a mask or not increasingly has become a political statement.
For some, it is a provocative gesture akin to flying a Gadsden flag or women harkening to the suffragettes by wearing white in Trump’s presence.
Across the country, tensions are rising between people who wear masks in public and those who don’t.
In Providence, Rhode Island, the mayor is encouraging “social shaming” as a way to get more people to wear masks and keep proper distances, which is now required in that state. In suburban Milwaukee, some engage in “mask shaming” as a way to call out those who aren’t complying.
Three members of a Flint, Michigan family are charged with murder in the shooting death last week of a security guard who refused to allow a woman to shop at a Family Dollar because she wasn’t wearing a mask.
Joshua Feuerstein of Mesa said the mask debate isn’t really political, at least not in the usual sense.
“This isn’t a red-blue thing; it’s a patriot-tyranny thing,” Feuerstein, 39, said.
“For me, it’s more of a muzzle than a mask,” he explained. “I just personally refuse to wear one because in reality I am not at risk for anything, and the risk is so minuscule. To me, the greater risk is the absolute tyranny the left is trying to display.”
Shawn Herbella, a 45-year-old Mesa resident, said he wears masks regularly in public and can’t believe the issue has become political.
“You see the president and his team not wearing masks and I get the feeling his supporters are emboldened by this,” he said.
Herbella is struck by the carelessness of unmasked people at gas stations, at the pump and in the stores.
“The science professionals are recommending this ... so you don’t infect someone by accident,” Herbella said.
To health officials, going mask-less is a reckless risk that could worsen a crisis that has already killed more than 70,000 Americans and infected more than 1 million others.
Many people seem to be taking the coronavirus threat seriously. Last month, a Morning Consult poll found that half the public reported wearing face masks in public spaces, such as grocery stores, and nearly three quarters saying they planned to do so in the near future.
Even so, it is that fraction of the public that has resisted wearing masks that has created a political subplot to the unfolding global pandemic.
Perhaps the most memorable image of it is the instantly iconic photo captured by The Arizona Republic of a masked nurse standing like a sentinel, arms crossed, as an unmasked protester at the Capitol holds an American flag, almost as a cudgel.
Meredith Conroy, an associate politics professor at California State University—San Bernardino, said polling shows most conservatives will obey health measures, even if they disagree with them. Still, Trump’s behavior likely motivates some resistance.
“I do think it sends a message, and gives individuals already prone to disobey or reject recommendations more license to do so, which has consequences,” she said. “And yes, I do think it is possible that ignoring restrictions and recommendations, like wearing mask or avoiding public parks for instance, is fuel for a burgeoning culture war.”
Last week, Vice President Mike Pence seemed to bow to medical advice when he donned a mask at a General Motors factory producing ventilators in Indiana after opting against one days earlier during a visit to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.
“I didn’t think it was necessary, but I should have worn a mask at the Mayo Clinic,” Pence said during a virtual town hall meeting on Fox News on Sunday.
But Trump’s visit to Phoenix this week may have reopened the issue.
He stepped out of Air Force One without one, awkwardly greeted Republican Gov. Doug Ducey — also sans mask — and proceeded to the adjacent Honeywell facility where employees are implored in signs posted throughout the building to wear masks.
Trump never did put on a mask, at least not in public view. He held a meeting with Ducey and tribal officials at Honeywell. None wore masks.
When Trump later spoke to employees at the facility, they sat — spaced for safety — in masks while the president addressed them. Ducey and Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., wore masks as they listened, though they were safely apart from others at that point.
Pressed the next day by reporters about not wearing a mask, Trump said he did.
“I had a mask on for a period of time,” Trump said. “I had it on back, backstage. But they said you didn’t need it, so, I didn’t need it. And by the way, if you noticed, nobody else had it on that was in the group.”
Honeywell officials declined to confirm to USA TODAY that Trump wore a mask at any point, and also did not confirm Trump’s assertion that the company’s CEO told him he didn’t need to wear one anyway.
Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., who traveled to Washington so she could fly to Phoenix on Air Force One with the president, suggested the mask issue is overblown.
Lesko said Trump didn’t need to wear a mask at Honeywell because he’s been tested for the coronavirus, as were the people in his entourage, including her.
“I think he’s setting the tone by visiting Honeywell, which is making N95 masks, and saying we need to do it in a responsible manner,” she said. “All of the people at Honeywell were wearing masks. He didn’t have to wear a mask because he’s been tested, and he’s negative.”
Robert Kahn, a law professor at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, has researched attitudes toward wearing masks. He believes the issue defies simple red-blue politics, and could, like raising the minimum wage, eventually find broad public support for wearing masks, especially as more businesses restart.
“To me, it’s tied a lot to the reopening,” Kahn said. “It’s going to move beyond politics the more it becomes something we have to do.”
Kahn said Trump’s bare face could encourage similarly defiant behavior from some in the public, he said.
But he also expressed dismay by the lengths some places have gone to enforce public safety, such as high fines for being in public without a mask in Massachusetts and the forcible dispersal of overly close crowds in New York.
“What you’re really trying to do,” Kahn said, “is have a habit that’s enforced by lots of people.”