Despite scientific evidence of the health benefits associated with wearing masks when interacting with others, many Americans resisted this lifesaving protocol. The reasons range from feeling it is harder to breathe with the mask, to believing their personal and religious freedoms are being trampled. Both mask wearers and non-mask wearers viewed each other negatively (Blaker 2020). In the face of sharply rising COVID-19 infection rates, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave a speech in Congress saying there should be no stigma associated with wearing masks (Perano 2020).