To Combat The Pandemic, Biden Will Aim To Depoliticize Mask-Wearing



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Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden wear masks as they mark Memorial Day, on May 25. The president-elect has consistently worn masks amid the pandemic, and is calling for a national mask mandate.

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As President-elect Biden prepares to take office in January, he’s already talking to governors about trying to implement a national mask mandate, or as close to it as possible. But to succeed, Biden is likely going to need to find a way to depoliticize masks.

That’s going to be tough because «it is so ingrained in our collective psyches,» said Frank Luntz, a Republican pollster. Luntz said the key to breaking through resistance is not to preach, but to listen, and to personalize it.

«Do it in a way that doesn’t look like you’re being political,» Luntz said. «Do it in a way that, where people will feel like this is being done for them, genuinely for them.»

In recent days, as the coronavirus surges to record levels, governors all over the country have held press conferences delivering difficult messages about restricting the size of gatherings and urging people to celebrate Thanksgiving only with those in their households. They’ve announced new or expanded mask mandates, and they’ve tried out their own methods to take down the political temperature and save lives.

«Some straight talk: There are two extreme and distinct camps out there,» said Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, as he announced new COVID-19 restrictions last week. «Most of the public isn’t part of either camp. And by the way, neither am I. Masks work. Please wear them.»

As he pleaded with residents to wear masks, Ducey walked through the science, highlighting the new CDC information about masks helping to protect the wearer too.

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«Masks work. Please wear them,» Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, said at a recent news conference.

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In an interview, Walz explained that he’s trying to give people permission to say they disagree with him while still actually wearing a mask.

He says when people complain to him about the mask mandate in his state (which happens all the time) he asks, «Why would you think I enjoy this at all?» He says he hates masks as much as everybody else.

«None of these decisions is politically popular,» Walz said. «I feel like John Lithgow in Footloose — ‘can’t dance, can’t do this, gotta do this’ — and I just am that guy all the time.»

He knows pandemic fatigue is real, he knows people are tired of being bombarded with the data and the science, and he’s convinced they are tired of hearing it from him. So he’s trying to bring new faces to his press conferences, like hospital directors, who can talk directly about what they are seeing.

But Walz remains hopeful. He says with vaccine progress putting a very real light at the end of the tunnel, and COVID raging out of control in frightening ways, he thinks there is a new receptiveness to masks — or at least he hopes there is.

For his part, Biden has consistently worn a mask, and has stuck to a consistent message. He tweeted last week: «Wearing a mask isn’t a political statement — it’s a patriotic duty.»

  • coronavirus in the U.S.



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