“Wearing a mask or not” goes beyond a public health issue in the U.S.

Abstract

Abstract: Severe outbreaks of COVID-19 have changed America’s landscape substantially. What’s more astonishing is wearing a mask or not used to be a question for many Americans when this virus was exponentially spreading in the U.S. The present study conducted thematic analysis of mask-related news comments from six American mainstream media. The analysis indicated five major themes. These were: (1) Debates on mask effectiveness; (2) Care vs. not care about others; (3) Controversies over personal rights and freedom; (4) Masks are politicized; and (5) Mask-related anti-science phenomenon. Each theme was further discussed using relevant theoretical evidence (e.g., trust in public health measures; altruism in crises; autonomy; individualism/collectivism; trust in science) in the literary. Despite the observed selfish behaviors, divisions and increasing anti-science trends in the U.S., people should still hold deep belief in science, altruism and solidarity.

Keywords

• face masks
• covid-19
• sars-cov-2
• coronavirus
• public health measures
• pandemic
• individualism
• altruism
• trust in science
• u.s. media