Analysis | A year in review: COVID-19 remains politically divisive in the US
During the past year, measures like lockdowns, social distancing and mask wearing to combat the pandemic have divided public opinion across political lines. Unsplash
The United States, which has been noted internationally for its politically divided public opinion on the yearlong pandemic, has experienced higher COVID-19 case rates than a majority of other countries. To this point, a study conducted by the Pew Research Center found Republicans less likely than Democrats to view COVID-19 as a serious public health threat.
Mac Bunyanunda, a political science professor at Chapman University, believes that former President Donald Trump politicized the pandemic and points to the actions of the White House in the last year as a central factor in divided public opinion. However, Bunyanunda also said the unique politicization of measures such as lockdowns, social distancing and wearing masks in the United States can be attributed to the country’s historic emphasis on personal liberty and independence.
“It’s about freedom,” Bunyanunda said. “(The response to the pandemic) is mashed up with America’s independence streak — what we have as American citizens as our own freedoms.”
According to The New York Times, the U.S. is currently averaging about 55,000 new cases per day as of March 14, despite cases trending downward. Compared to countries like New Zealand, which averages three new cases daily and is ranked first in Bloomberg’s COVID-19 resilience ranking, the United States’ reaction and response to the pandemic has been lacking.
Despite a pre-pandemic study from the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security that ranked the United States as first in terms of pandemic readiness, a study performed by Australian thinktank Lowy Institute ranks the nation’s response to COVID-19 in the bottom five of almost 100 countries examined.
Elise Barnathan, a member of Chapman Democrats, said the state of the pandemic in the U.S., when compared to other countries like New Zealand, is an embarrassment. She believes the nation’s poor standing is due to partisan disagreement over the coronavirus.
“I wish we were all able to come together and see that it would have been so manageable if we had just started (following safety measures) earlier,” said Barnathan, a sophomore psychology and peace studies double major.
Although Bloomberg estimates that 197% of the U.S. population can be covered by vaccine supply agreements, polls find nearly 33% of Republicans do not plan to get vaccinated.
Abbey Umali, the treasurer of Chapman Republicans, doesn’t wear masks in public and doesn’t intend to take the vaccine due to a physical disability she said exempts her. Umali also expressed concerns regarding potential long-term side effects with the vaccine. As she does not consider herself to be in a high-risk category, she is not worried about catching the virus, stating that it is “common sense” to stay home when sick. Thus, she would not spread the virus to anyone, she said.
“In regards to the vaccine, I think everyone has to evaluate the risks and research what’s in it and what it’s going to do,” said Umali, a senior psychology and music double major. “If people decide to get it, that’s great, but if people don’t, then they shouldn’t be judged for that.”
Partisan views of the pandemic extend to students at Chapman, as Chapman Republicans posted a controversial Feb. 23 defense of students reported to be partying and disregarding COVID-19 safety guidelines on Instagram.
“We as a club wholeheartedly support Chapman students’ freedom to evaluate their own levels of risk and choose for themselves whether or not to partake in activities with other people,” Chapman Republicans wrote in their post’s caption. “If you disagree, that’s fine, but don’t actively hunt down and publicly shame students you disagree with. (It) looks like someone’s upset they didn’t get invited.”
Umali supports the club’s sentiment, although she believes it could have been worded better. She said the statement was made in response to the actions of the Instagram accounts @chapmansuperspreaders and @chapman.party in publicly resharing video content of parties Chapman students posted themselves.
“I agree with the intent of the post ... to condemn the accounts that were kind of almost doxxing people,” Umali said. “If people have concerns they can totally report them to the Dean (of Students Jerry Price) or to whoever’s in charge of that, but I think publicly shaming people for it (is not) really productive.”
Barnathan, however, finds Chapman Republicans’ response to be “ridiculous” and was frustrated to see them defending the behavior of the students caught disregarding social distancing guidelines.
“Seeing the Chapman Republicans post a public defense for that, and the fights that would break out in that comment section (was) really sad to see,” Barnathan said. “I wish both sides of the aisle would just understand that we all want (the pandemic) to go away, and ignoring the severity of the pandemic and partying or seeing people without masks is just irresponsible.”