Politics

Americans’ Aversion to Mask-Wearing Is Holding Back the Economy

  • Enforcement of mandates has fallen on businesses, employees
  • Mask-wearing divided along party lines, with GOP less inclined
A sign notifies customers to wear a face mask at a store in Asbury Park, New Jersey, U.S.Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg
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The aversion of many Americans to wearing a thin piece of cloth across their faces is restraining an already-shaky economic rebound.

In Texas, the second most-populous state and a hotspot of the resurgent Covid-19, Republican Governor Greg Abbott on July 2 ordered mask-wearing in a reversal of his earlier opposition to enforcement. He said on local television this week that face coverings will prevent “having our economy shut down again.”