Mask as Symbol

In my 19 years alive, I never would have expected a piece of fabric to be such an instigator of aggression and tension between people around me. If I was told a year ago that at work I’d have to attempt to calm down infuriated middle-aged customers after telling them they need to put a mask on, I’d find it ridiculous. And, it is ridiculous that that is now my reality.

N-95, cloth, bandana, surgical, and other reusable fabrics used to make face masks have become uncomfortably familiar vocabulary terms to us over the course of the year. As we navigate the nightmare that is wreaking havoc throughout the U.S., COVID-19, we simultaneously attempt to solve a nationwide feud over public health and personal freedoms.

The absence or presence of a mask has now become an indicator of political party affiliation, especially since Donald Trump has publicly expressed his disapproval of them. Between mocking Joe Biden for wearing a mask at the political debate and claiming that Coronavirus is nothing more than a hoax, Trump has demonstrated to his supporters that the virus isn’t of importance to him, so it shouldn’t be to them either.