Project 1: Covid-19 Response

One of the major issues related to the COVD-19

Response are the cultural understandings that inform

Our reaction to government actions and recommendations.

This has also affected interactions between individuals.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/05/masks-coronavirus-america.html

Some Americans see masks as infringing on their rights
The fundamental issue at times is whether they believe that COVID-19 is a threat to them or others or even a real thing
Masks have become politicized into a left/right division in which the left is willing to give up personal liberties to protect others while vocal parts of the right decry the crisis
President Trump is representative of the right wing and refuses to wear a mask
It is seen as “muzzling”
However, it’s important to note that this isn’t the case for all Americans
Quote from Lydia Denworth: “The point is that masks do not just protect the wearer, they protect others. Such community-minded thinking fits with collectivist cultural norms in some parts of Asia, where masks are routinely worn when one is sick—and where there is more experience with serious epidemics.”
Covering the face is seen as covering one’s self
Reacting against the government is an important part of rugged individualism https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/masks-reveal-new-social-norms-what-a-difference-a-plague-makes/
In some places, masks or veils have been banned
Smoking and non-smoking sections were a regular thing until recent decades
Masks are not an established norm yet in the U.S. as people are not “expected” by others to wear them

Early smoking studies focused on the effects on the smoker and not others around them and people felt that they had the right to make themselves sick if they wanted to