Whether media outlets want to acknowledge it or not, it seems clear that government officials endorsing nationwide mass gatherings caused a whole lot of people to decide they were done with distancing. Anecdotal, but I’ve heard a bunch of people say they were over it after that.
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) July 17, 2020
The glaring contradiction between months of public cautions and public officials joining crowds of tens of thousands in the streets convinced a lot of people that (a) that public health officials were overblowing it, or (b) it wasn’t much of a threat anymore. Not hard to see why.
— James Hasson (@JamesHasson20) July 17, 2020