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Reuters
United States President Donald Trump, who has long opposed wearing a face mask in public, says he is “all for masks” and they make him look like the Lone Ranger.
Trump also argued that facial covers do not need to be mandatory to stop the spread of Covid-19.
He again predicted that the infection would “go away,” as the United States hit a new record of 52,000 cases of the virus in one day.
His comments to Fox News come a day after a senior Republican asked Trump to wear a mask as an example.
The United States now has nearly 2.7 million confirmed Covid-19 infections and more than 128,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the pandemic.
What did the president say?
Speaking to Fox Business Network on Wednesday, Trump said: “I am in favor of the masks.”
When asked if he would use one, the president said, “If I was in a difficult situation with people, I would, absolutely.” He added that people have seen him using one before.
Trump said he “would have no problem” with wearing a mask publicly and that he “liked” what he looked like in an outfit, comparing himself to Lone Ranger, a fictional masked hero who with his Native American friend, Tonto, fought outlaws in the Old West. American.
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But the president reiterated that he did not believe it was necessary to cover his face throughout the United States, because there are “many places in the country where people stay far away.”
“If people feel good about it, they should.”
Trump was also asked in his Fox Business interview on Wednesday if he still believes the coronavirus will “go away” one day.
“Yes,” he said. “Yes. Yes, of course. At some point.”
During Trump’s upcoming Independence Day celebration on July 3 at Mount Rushmore, his supporters will not be forced to wear masks or social distance.
What has Trump said previously about masks?
When the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) began in April recommending that people wear masks or cloth covers in public to help stop the spread of the virus, Trump told reporters he would no longer follow. the practice.
“I don’t think I’m going to do it,” he said at the time. “With a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I just don’t see it.”
But Trump has repeatedly emphasized that choosing to follow the official health guide to masks is a personal decision.
Last month, he told the Wall Street Journal that some people only wear masks as a political statement against him.
In May, during a visit to a factory in Michigan, he told reporters that he removed a face covering before looking at the cameras because “he did not want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it.”
The White House has defended the president’s election, saying that everyone in contact with him is frequently screened for coronaviruses, and so is Trump himself.
The daughter of the president and chief adviser, Ivanka Trump, has also been seen wearing a mask in public.
An ABC News / Ipsos poll found that in the past week, 89% of Americans said they wore a mask or a mask covering their home last week, a 20-point jump from mid-April.
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What do the politicians say?
Trump has often been criticized by Democrats for minimizing the need to wear masks and politicizing the idea.
But more recently, the President’s fellow Republicans and conservative media have joined calls for the use of masks.
They include Vice President Mike Pence, who heads the U.S. Covid-19 workforce, Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Mitt Romney, and Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
On Tuesday, Republican Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander said it was unfortunate that “this simple and life-saving practice has become part of a political debate that says’ if you are for Trump, don’t wear a mask, if you are in against Trump, you do it. “
On the same day, the U.S. chief of infectious diseases, Dr. Anthony Fauci, told lawmakers that new American cases could reach 100,000 per day, and that there were not enough Americans with masks or social distancing.
Recent increases have led several states to reverse or pause plans to reopen. About 20 states have required the use of masks in public.
