the opposite political party wants to paint it as such
This is there day time job! The majority of the governors and Washington deputies share (meet at) the same evening distraction in a lodge or Rotary union doing golf etc.. USA has no political system since a long time only the people think that such exists. I just remind you that Bush junior has two times faked ballot counting a thing we know best from development countries of Africa or Asia.
The USA is ruled by an establishment like China or Russia too. Its their interest to have a large part of the population being ignorants. Now you can figure out what the combination of ignorants, freedom and "third world education level" is going to cause in the corona case!
You have to prepare for a nightmare in some states if the perception does not change.