Presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Thursday that he would use federal power to require Americans to wear face masks in public, a move that would mark significant federal government intervention and could see considerable setback from states.
Biden made the comments in an interview with CBS affiliate KDKA, in which he spoke about what he believes should be done to reopen the country from the closure of the coronavirus. She said she wants to see more use of masks.
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“The only thing we know is that these masks make a big difference. I would insist that everyone in public wear that mask, ”he said. “Anyone who reopens would have to make sure they entered a business that had masks.”
The interviewer asked him if he would use “federal leverage” to demand the use of masks,
“Yes, I would do it from an executive point of view, yes, I would,” he said, to which the interviewer asked if he would later demand to wear a mask.
“I would do everything possible to demand that people have to wear masks in public,” Biden said.
Several states require the use of masks in public when social distancing is not possible, while others simply recommend that Americans in their states wear masks.
Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control recommends using “face cloths in public places where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain, such as supermarkets, pharmacies, and gas stations.”
But wearing masks has been hotly debated in many parts of the country and among lawmakers. Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, recently said that “everyone should wear a damn mask.”
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But President Trump has not been seen in public wearing a mask, and has rejected suggestions that he should wear one. He has also suggested that they could backfire.
“They put their finger on the mask, took them off, and then they started touching their eyes and touching their nose and mouth,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal last week. “And then they don’t know how they caught him?”
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Any federal mandate that people wear masks would likely provoke significant opposition, considering that state mandates have been controversial.
A sheriff in southwestern Washington state this week told residents not to be “a sheep” by Governor Jay Inslee’s new state order that requires masks, though he later clarified that he was not “externally saying I want you to violate the orders. “
