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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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.

(8/x) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/briefing/biden-fauci-trump-covid-vaccine.html?referringSource=articleShare

I feel like I just drove across a country that’s losing a winnable fight.

(fin) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/22/briefing/biden-fauci-trump-covid-vaccine.html?referringSource=articleShare