Coastal media will occasionally refer to middle America as “flyover country,” but occasionally they’ll grab their notebooks and venture a drive.
New York Times writer David Leonhardt recently went on one such road trip, and was troubled — troubled — by what he witnessed:
I just took a 1,600-mile road trip from Washington to St. Louis and back. I was shaken by what I saw.
(1/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
Prepare to be “shaken”:
Almost everywhere I stopped — gas stations, rest stops and hotels, across Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois — there was a sign on the door saying that people had to wear masks to enter. And almost everywhere, most people ignored the sign.
(2/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
At a Fairfield Inn in Ohio, a middle-aged couple sat unmasked on a lobby sofa for hours, drinking beers and scrolling through their phones. The hotel staff evidently did nothing about it.
(3/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
Which is not nearly as weird as another guest at the hotel watching them sit there for hours, but we digress…
At a convenience store in Indiana, a hand-drawn sign on the door read: “Face masks are required. Please do not enter without one!!” Customers did anyway.
(4/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
Nationwide, about half of Americans are not wearing masks when in close contact with people outside their households, according to a survey by the University of Southern California. (5/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
At this point, it’s starting to feel a little like Charles Darwin analyzing Galapagos finches.
Wearing a mask isn’t much fun, I realize. But the inconvenience sure seems worth the benefits.
Study after study has shown that masks reduce the virus’s spread.
(6/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
Millions of Americans have decided they would prefer more Covid — for their communities and potentially for their families and themselves — to more masks.
(7/x)
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
So. Much. Scolding.
Accelerating the vaccination campaign is an urgent task for Biden, and he seems to have a plan. But if he doesn’t find a way to persuade more Americans to do their part to slow the virus’s spread, a lot more people will die in the meantime.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
I feel like I just drove across a country that’s losing a winnable fight.
— David Leonhardt (@DLeonhardt) January 22, 2021
Maybe something should be taken into consideration before he further triggers himself:
And yet they are performing at the numbers or better then the same states that are locked down. Does critical thinking escape the left entirely? https://t.co/qBaSdtRZRY
— Scott Coleman (@bandphan) January 22, 2021
For example, is there a bigger shutdown-happy state with high mask compliance than California? And how’s that been working out for Gavin Newsom?
I’ve known David 30+ years. He is decent, honorable, mathematically aware, and very smart. And he seems to have lost his mind. I don’t understand this story at all. The risk of a 1600-mile drive all by itself overwhelms any benefit of being vaccinated a couple of weeks early… https://t.co/c2bHYGVIYy
— Alex Berenson (@AlexBerenson) January 22, 2021
If you’re appalled by what you see outside the Beltway, maybe it’s a sign you spend too much time here in the DMV bubble. ??♀️ https://t.co/tbBSDXxvM1
— Gabriella Hoffman (@Gabby_Hoffman) January 22, 2021
Make no mistake; this thread is about his disdain for the unwashed masses, not the lack of mask wearing. https://t.co/7oWmdWocDS
— Von Böhm Bawerk (@ralph_pittman) January 22, 2021
Shook by those smelly Walmart people https://t.co/K29GD2AnXq
— Mr S is gonna live on a boat (@slomotion4199) January 22, 2021
Karen is literally shaking. https://t.co/XTiYhNVD3C
— James Lindsay, king of your mom (@ConceptualJames) January 22, 2021
Dear Diary … ?
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) January 22, 2021
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