Conservatism and infrequent mask usage: A study of US counties during the novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) pandemic

Objective Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eventually recommended wearing masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the practice has been unevenly distributed in the United States. Methods In this article, we model county‐level infrequent mask usage as a function...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social Science Quarterly 2021-09, Vol.102 (5), p.2368-2382
Main Authors: Gonzalez, Kelsey E., James, Rina, Bjorklund, Eric T., Hill, Terrence D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Christianity
Christians
Conservatism
Coronaviruses
Counties
COVID-19
Disease control
Disease prevention
Disease transmission
Evangelicalism
health behavior
Masks
News
News media
Original
Pandemics
Political leadership
politics
Presidential elections
Prevention
Protestantism
Public health
Research on Covid 19
Resistance
Trump, Donald J
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Summary:Objective Although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eventually recommended wearing masks in public to slow the spread of the coronavirus, the practice has been unevenly distributed in the United States. Methods In this article, we model county‐level infrequent mask usage as a function of three pillars of conservatism: (1) Republican political leadership (percentage of votes for Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election), (2) conservative Protestantism (percentage evangelical Christian), and (3) right‐wing media consumption (Google searches for Fox News). Results Our analyses indicate that mask usage tends to be lower in counties with greater support for President Trump (in majority Trump counties), counties with more evangelical Christians, and areas with greater interest in Fox News. Conclusion Given the effectiveness of masks in limiting the transmission of respiratory droplets, conservative ideological resistance to public health and recommended pandemic lifestyles may indirectly support the spread of the coronavirus.
ISSN:0038-4941
1540-6237
DOI:10.1111/ssqu.13025