With new coronavirus cases around the country hit record numbers this week and government officials in Florida and Texas urged their residents to wear masks in public, Trevor Noah wondered if the global pandemic was adversely affecting Americans because of “a deadly strain of stupidity.”
Since April, when the Centers for Disease Control made the recommendation that citizens should wear face coverings when unable to socially distance, masks have become another cudgel wielded by President Donald Trump. “This is voluntary,” Trump said while announcing the new guidelines on masks on April 3. “I don’t think I’m going be doing it.”
In the months since, the debate over mask use has often split down party lines. This week, after Palm Beach County in Florida made wearing masks mandatory, local residents rebuked their health officials with wild conspiracy theories and pure outrage. “Every single one of you that are obeying the devil’s laws are going to be arrested,” said one woman during a Palm Beach County board of commissioners meeting. (Video of the rant exploded online.)
Said Noah on Thursday, “If wearing masks killed people, there would be no doctors, no dentists, and no hockey goalies. Every hockey game would end with a score of 1,000 to 980. Why are we even arguing with these idiots?”
Referencing the footage from Palm Beach County, the host added, “And this just shows you how destructive social media has been. I mean, you have random people berating qualified health professionals because of some conspiracy theory that they probably came across on their Facebook feed. You can’t trust Facebook for medical advice—it isn’t run by a doctor. It isn’t even run by a human.”
As reported by the New York Times this week, the backlash to health officials during the coronavirus pandemic has been so severe that some have even received death threats. “It is deeply worrisome,” Dr. Barbara Ferrer, the director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, told the Times in a statement. “To imagine that our hardworking infectious disease physicians, nurses, epidemiologists, and environmental health specialists or any of our other team members would have to face this level of hatred.”
But Noah expressed little surprise that so many people have made the decision to discount the advice of medical professionals. “Now look, having people believe crazy conspiracy theories and ignore facts, that’s nothing new. What is new is that now one of those people lives in the White House,” he said.
As he has gotten back out on the road for campaign rallies, Trump has added a section of coronavirus riffing to his speeches. Twice in the last week, he has gone on an extended soliloquy about the many names one could use for the virus, including invoking the racist term “Kung Flu.” In Phoenix on Tuesday, Trump also expressed confusion about the root of COVID-19 itself. “I said, ‘What’s the 19?’ COVID-19, some people can’t explain what the 19, give me… COVID-19, I said, ‘That’s an odd name.’”