The CDC recommends that people wear masks in public places, and the agency’s director Robert Redfield urged Trump to use one, too, to set an example for the rest of the country. Redfield said the coronavirus outbreak could be controlled if all members of the public wore masks for four to eight weeks.
Trump’s circle is routinely tested for coronaviruses, and visitors and White House staff are often seen wearing masks. Redfield said those factors could allow Trump to justify not wearing a mask, but that the president still needs to wear one to encourage others to follow.
CDC officials also wrote in an editorial Tuesday that cloth face covers were vital to fighting the coronavirus and could be particularly effective when used by all members of a community. The editorial, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said wearing masks could protect users and prevent people with coronavirus from spreading infected drops.
“When asked to wear face covers, many people think in terms of personal protection,” the authors wrote. “But facial coatings are also used extensively and routinely as source control.”
Trump had long refused to wear a mask, even taunting fellow Democratic presidential rival Joe Biden for wearing it during a Memorial Day ceremony. When asked in April if he would wear a face mask, he replied, “Wearing a face mask when greeting presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I just don’t see it.”
But as support for wearing masks grew among his adversaries and supporters alike, Trump finally changed his stance and wore a mask during a visit to the Walter Reed National Medical Center on Saturday. He had also been seen wearing one during a tour of a Ford plant in May, but while out of public view.
The president had also said during an interview with Fox Business two weeks ago that he was “all in masks.” I think the masks are good. “
