I'm Martin Powers.

It's Saturday, April 25th.

This is a bonus episode of Post Reports.

I'm Mark Fisher, Senior Editor at The Washington Post, and this is a story that I wrote with

Clarence Williams and Laurie Rosen.

Steven Crannowitter won't wear a mask because he just doesn't think it's necessary whatever

the scientists say.

Marilyn Singleton won't wear one either, and she's a physician because she says it's

un-American for the government to force people to cover their faces.

You won't see Ricardo Thornton in a mask because it reminds him of a time when he wasn't

free to make his own decisions about his life.

Even as governors, mayors, and the federal government urge or require Americans to wear

masks in stores, transit systems, and other public spaces to contain the spread of the

novel coronavirus, the nation is divided about whether to comply, and it is divided in

painfully familiar ways by politics and by attitudes about government power and individual

choice.

Almost overnight, masks have become common in some places, even as they are still rare

in others.

Moreto, Texas, a small border city, last month became one of the first in the nation to

threaten steep fines up to $1,000 for residents who do not as one city councilman put it,

keep their droplets to themselves by wearing masks whenever they're outside.

The mayor Pete Sienz wears a surgical mask.

...