COVID-19

A conservative commentariat echoed Trump in downplaying the virus and deriding efforts to stay safe. Brit Hume of Fox News mocked Joe Biden for wearing a large mask, and the right-wing website RedState denounced “the public health Gestapo” and called Dr. Anthony Fauci a “mask Nazi.” A University of Chicago study found that watching the Sean Hannity program correlated to less social distancing, so watching Fox News may well have been lethal to some of its fans.

Even as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to grip the United States, face masks remain far from universal. The biggest explanation? Political partisanship. A recent working paper from scholars at the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy studies the use of face masks—a cornerstone of the public health guidance to stem the spread of COVID-19—to show how partisanship has undermined America’s response to the collective risk of the pandemic.

More Americans say the actions of the United States government caused the coronavirus situation in the country than attribute it to the policies of foreign governments or the World Health Organization.