The Mask Wars: How Crippling Partisanship Slowed Progress

How did mask wearing become such a partisan issue? How has it, like dealing with Climate Change, become a “symbol” of the left when it is simply a protection against a deadly disease? The left will say It’s ALL TRUMP’S FAULT! That’s partly true. But the left has also used the mask as a symbol of “better than” and helped to push the conflict to the extreme. It didn’t have to be like this. Regardless of collective outrage and fury at Trump, that was no excuse to turn a simple mask into a weapon of war.

Let’s start at the beginning.

When COVID first broke out, people were discouraged from buying and wearing masks. This was said multiple times on multiple networks, like NPR. Partly it was because masks were needed for medical professionals who were running out and it was thought to be selfish to buy them, and partly because people used them as a false sense of security, fussed with them and touched their face, which easily spread the virus from unwashed hands. We were, at least at first, urged to practice social distancing more. Even if we wanted masks we were discouraged from buying them because they were needed for medical staff and supplies were dangerously.

By late February, Democrats, along with Republicans, were trying to quell panic. For his part, Trump had closed down travel from China (non-essential, trade ships still got through), and was in downplay mode. He claims he knew how bad it was but even the scientists didn’t really know by this point, not…