By Julia Shumway | Arizona Capitol Times
On most days, a stranger visiting the Arizona House or Senate with no prior knowledge of state politics could identify Democrats and Republicans easily: just look for the donkey or elephant baubles on their desks.
COVID-19 has provided a new form of party shorthand – look for the masks.
Every Senate Democrat wore a mask during their first floor session since recessing in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and every Senate Republican left their faces uncovered except the chair and vice chair of the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and a Republican committee member who owns a medical supply business.
The Senate served as a microcosm of the nation, where wearing a mask — or not wearing one — has become a political symbol for many. Largely conservative protesters who eschew facial coverings deride masks as virtue signaling, the 2020 version of the safety pins white liberals donned after the Brexit vote and the 2016 presidential election. And those who wear masks shame those who don’t as not caring about their fellow human beings.
