Americans took to social media to express frustrations and share exchanges surrounding face masks, worn to help stop the spread of the coronavirus.
Despite the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encouraging people to wear masks, the subject remains a controversial issue.
Twitter has been used to highlight the stark differences between those who wear masks and those who do not.
Civil rights activist Danielle Muscato took to Twitter on Saturday to address a hot encounter she experienced while shopping at a Kroger in Louisville, Ken.
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“I was just threatened w / attacks on @kroger in Louisville because I asked another customer to wear a mask, and they refused,” Muscato tweeted Friday. “I reported it to a manager, who found her and talked to her, but refused to do more.”
De Kroger Co. could not be reached for comment to verify the story that received more than 6,000 retweets and comments.
Her story was further shared and criticized on Twitter by Glenn Greenwald, a founding editor of The Intercept, a news outlet that launched in 2014, claiming she used social media to ‘humiliate’ the Kroger manager.
“Using social platforms to expose and humiliate supermarket workers in the midst of a pandemic for absolutely no reason other than sadism, a need for attention and a complete lack of empathy,” Greenwald wrote.
These social media patches around face masks have been a frequent occurrence since the lockdowns began in March.
Celebrities, politicians, health officials along with the other 48 million Americans on Twitter have taken the platform to vote for their support in favor of or against wearing a mask.
Former Major League Baseball player Aubrey Huff posted a video on Twitter in mid-June after California was mandated to wear masks in shopping, saying he “would rather die of coronavirus than live the rest of my life in fear and wear a damn mask.” . ”
Hashtags that show if someone supports wearing a face mask are now used on Twitter under the #antimask or #facemask, but the sentence that was highest on Twitter on Saturday for coronavirus news was #TrumpsCovidCoverup.
Trump took to Twitter in late July to say that masks are “patriotic” after months of refusing to wear one in public – even though other GOP members have asked him to do so.
The President of the First Chamber of Public Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Urged the President to wear a mask as cases of coronavirus spike in the Sunbelt states.
“Unfortunately, this simple life-saving practice has become part of a political debate that says: If you are for Trump, you do not wear a mask. If you are against Trump, you are doing that, ”Alexander said during a hearing in late June.
“That is why I have suggested that the president should sometimes wear a mask, although there are not many occasions when it is necessary to do so. The president has millions of admirers. They would follow his song, ‘he added.
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Trump made another masked statement in interviews with Fox News’ Chris Wallace.
‘I’m a believer in masks. “I think masks are good,” Trump said. But I leave it to the drivers. Many of the drivers change. They’re more mask in – they love the concept of masks, but some of them disagree. “
But Trump has gone back and forth about his stance on masks, defending a crowd of supporters who attended a conference in New Jersey on Friday without wearing masks.
“You said the pandemic was disappearing, but we lost 6,000 Americans this week and right in this room you have dozens of people who do not follow the guidelines in New Jersey,” a reporter asked the president as the crowd booed him.
“You got it wrong because it’s a political activity,” Trump claimed. “And it’s also a peaceful protest. To me, they all look like they almost all have masks on.”
The exchange was shared on Twitter with responses in favor of the president’s rhetoric as opposed.
People have come to trust Twitter to vent their frustrations or discuss the importance of wearing masks during the coronavirus pandemic.
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A Pew survey found that about 22 percent of the U.S. population actually uses Twitter, compared to the 77 percent of the population who are on at least one form of social media.
The survey also found that Twitter users identify the identity to the extreme, politically speaking, and that 80 percent of all tweets come from just 10 percent of all Twitter users.
The CDC has suggested that the public take breaks from news and social media platforms to help with mental health during the coronavirus pandemic.
