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Contributor is exactly
Hayley Gordon
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2020-07-25Anti-Mask Protests
After living in Massachusetts throughout the emergence of COVID-19, and watching the state promptly implement and obey lockdown restrictions and mask mandates, traveling to north Idaho in mid-July was a complete culture shock. Less than a week after I arrived back to my hometown of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho to visit my family, Kootenai County finally passed a mask mandate. As a result, a huge portion of the city’s population protested the simple act of wearing a face mask, claiming it was a complete violation of their freedom. The protesters threatened those who did obey the mandate. The difference in reactions by the people in Idaho vs. Massachusetts as a result of something so simple as a mask mandate was shocking to me. It is a completely different world than what I had gotten used to in Massachusetts, and I’ll never forget the hostile feeling that filled the small town of Coeur d’Alene, for the first time that I can ever remember.