That didn't last long. Once the conservative anti-mask machine started going, the whole community was as anti-mask as they come within a month or two.

As an example of the effect mainstream conservative politics has had on them, at the very very beginning of the pandemic Mennonite ladies banded together to sew and distribute masks. My mom mailed me some. It was heartwarming.

Many of these people truly and deeply believe that they are doing what is best for their children. Which is no excuse in the end, but it's just frustrating for me to see how far gone many of them are in their distrust of vaccines.

It's largely driven by the same Facebook-Instagram-Youtube-do-your-own-research misinformation as it is everywhere else, then it spreads via Whatsapp and word-of-mouth to the more conservative and insular Mennonites groups.

Many Mennonite children older than around 10 or 12 were vaccinated without second thought. I was. Being explicitly anti-vax is relatively new here but is now extremely commonplace, especially among young mothers.

I grew up Mennonite in Seminole, and reading this is surreal. The whole situation is messed up. The Mennonite community there is really susceptible to misinformation, and the Trump era has completely warped everyone's minds.