No Mask War
The U.S. and Mexico have had two of the worst coronavirus responses. At least we don’t have to fight a mask culture war in Mexico.
If you look at the world map of COVID infections, you’re going to see a fat red cloud hanging over the Americas. Setting aside Canada, which has effectively contained the virus (through some pretty commonsense policies), the NAFTA zone may be the global hotspot for COVID failure.
The reasons for this are pretty well explained, here and here and here. But to summarize: leaders in the U.S. and Mexico downplayed the danger of the virus in the early days and, in turn, failed to contain it. They have since employed a strategy of evasion, denial, and focus on hypothetical vaccines. Until we have a vaccine (which these countries maddeningly think they will distribute efficiently after months of complete ineptitude at the most basic tasks of public health), what happens happens.
Mexico and the U.S. have failed in lots of similar ways. Andres Manuel López Obrador and Donald Trump have brashly denied science, common sense, and humanity. They refused the expertise of public health officials who successfully managed previous pandemics. The working class in the U.S. and Mexico has already been devastated by the state failing to provide material support during the worst economic crisis in a decade. (They’re just gonna happen once a decade now, aren’t they?) The victims are most often the poor and those already on the margins of society. Any progress in the two countries is immediately squandered by loosening restrictions. Restrictions are reinstated, working people can’t make a living, the government refuses to provide support and instead reopens. Rinse and repeat.
But there is one major, visible difference between the U.S. and Mexican coronavirus tragedies: there is no mask culture war in Mexico. Over the last seven months, I have yet to witness a lurid expression of personal freedom by some mask-flaunting pendejo.
This isn’t to say there hasn’t been COVID skepticism in Mexico. Especially in the early days of the pandemic, several reports showed conspiracy theories running rampant when effective lockdown was key. Health workers were attacked by conspiratorial civilians. President López Obrador played down the potential of the pandemic while the social media conspiracy machine kicked into high gear.
Nowadays in Mexico, it’s rare to see someone flaunting mask mandates. Almost every business has clear, easy-to-see signs mandating masks to enter. The maskless are politely asked to strap up and they do, either apologetically, or at worst, grumpily.
That’s not to say that protective measures always work. Masks are often worn poorly, people still tend to stand too close to one another, and many still lack a fundamental understanding of how the coronavirus is transmitted (that’s for another post on my favorite new term “COVID hygiene theater.”)
I’ve only experienced the U.S. mask culture war from a distance, through family and friends and mostly, social media. I don’t think there’s much for me to add than my own personal feeling: I’m so damn relieved I don’t have to fight this battle every day. The last seven months have been so exhausting and stressful and dispiriting - I can’t imagine having to fight over mask wearing at the grocery store. I’m glad that Mexican service workers haven’t suffered the same sick abuse as their American counterparts.
I continue to fear this is about to happen in Mexico, but even today, as Mexico City has brashly reopened almost all indoor businesses, the masks wars are dormant.
Why? Why did two countries with irresponsible leaders and an inclination to downplay the effects of the pandemic have such different cultural responses to masks? Here are a few of my theories:
This is a specifically American strain of political identity. Most mask rejecters base their stance on the concept of “freedom”, a specific type of freedom that has been part of U.S. political culture for centuries. Back in the Jacksonian era, the president’s concept of freedom was defined as “freedom from restriction” (I’m mostly copping this from Greg Grandin’s “The End of the Myth” and I’d highly recommend it. It has given me thoughtful historical perspective to the current political moment in the U.S.). Today, the Jacksonian concept of freedom exists in libertarian and Tea Party factions and is broadly the stance of the GOP at large. So during the pandemic, being obligated to wear a mask is equal to (or worse!) than bondage. History should keep us from being surprised that a whole portion of American society prioritizes their slightest personal discomfort over the life of a stranger. Mexican political culture has never had a similar current that was powerful (though certain parts of northern Mexico have worked in this way at times) and there is no powerful libertarian political group in Mexico.
Trump has pushed the mask war more than López Obrador. A cursory look shows these two heads of state both rejecting mask wearing, almost always and particularly in showy ways that highlight their sense of personal exceptionalism. Both presidents have considered themselves impervious to infection because of their personal strength or righteousness. That’s now warped into something else entirely with Trump’s recent diagnosis, recovery(?), and infomercials for Regeneron. AMLO famously said that those with a clean conscience need not worry about becoming infected, a pretty lame, obvious way to say he isn’t corrupt like all the other politicians. (He has not enforced this belief when one of his cabinet members or other political allies became infected.) The difference is that for Trump, not wearing a mask almost functions as a sign of allegiance. AMLO has not made the same connection between masks and political affiliation. If AMLO had explicitly made a demand to abhor masks, perhaps there would be a mask war in Mexico. On top of that, Trump and AMLO are in very different situations electorally. Trump is campaigning and AMLO is President until 2024. Public displays of political allegiance are important for Trump right now, less so for AMLO.
AMLO supporters have more important things to worry about: In both health and economic terms, the pandemic has wrecked Mexico’s working class. But they still make up most of AMLO’s base, even as he has failed to provide them material support during the pandemic. His supporters are likely to be dealing with economic hardship – simply trying to feed a family every day – and possibly illness in their family, workplace, or neighborhood. Engaging in a mask war would be so low on their priority list, even if AMLO was explicitly demanding it. In contrast, Trump’s most ardent supporters are detached, comfortable suburbanites who own boats. A mask war is something they have the time and comfort to engage in.
City life. My experience is geographically limited. I’ve spent almost every day of the pandemic in Mexico City, a dense urban area where it’s nearly impossible to avoid other humans. Living in dense urban areas forces you to find some level of harmony with your fellow humans. I think this is similar in dense U.S. cities as well. While New York City was the COVID epicenter months ago, Mexico’s capital has been the epicenter of the pandemic throughout. U.S. suburban and rural areas have suffered infection much more than their counterparts in Mexico. And the most egregious mask fights seem to happen in suburban America where libertarian tendencies are strong. Living in Mexico City warps my perception but even via news and social media, I’ve seen very little vociferous mask rejection in other parts of Mexico.
This isn’t Mexico’s first time. Mexico (and Mexico City specifically) went through an H1N1 pandemic back in 2009. It responded quite well and pretty effectively contained it. Making small personal sacrifices to contain a disease is not new for Mexicans. To be fair, H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2 are very different diseases and it’s unlikely Mexico could have replicated H1N1 success even with very swift, strict measures.
Public health campaigns were common in Mexico before the pandemic. For the last couple decades, Mexico has suffered astronomical increases in obesity and subsequent ailments (hypertension, diabetes, other cardiovascular problems.) In recent years, it’s pretty common to see public health campaigning for healthier diets, more exercise and the like. Mexico also does large annual public health campaigns for the flu shot; this season’s just kicked off and is now sharing ad space with COVID campaigns. While Mexico’s public health system is severely lacking, disorganized and underfunded, the United States simply does not have a public health system, in the sense that the health of individuals is a concern of the government and that government acts to maintain individual health as much as possible. Of course the U.S. does have public health infrastructure, mostly around Medicare and Medicaid, but it does not embrace the concept of “public health” in any meaningful way. Mask mandates are a genuine shock to Americans while they are just another public health campaign for Mexicans (and almost everyone else around the world).
Do you have other theories?
Many Trump supporters seem to immediately go on the defensive when they hear words like "science" or "research". So when we say, "research has shown" or "the science suggests" that mask-wearing is an effective mitigant against the spread of covid, these folks are hearing what they interpret to be a leftist partisan message. That's all it takes for tribalism to take hold. And what a shame this is. How do we move forward when the scientific method itself becomes politicized? To be fair, I think the liberal camp is partly to blame for this. Science with a capital S has for years been used as a bludgeon for bashing the skulls of wrong-headed conservatives. I think all sides could use a reminder that true science is rooted in humility.