The tweet from the president appearing to endorse the use of face coverings in public follows months of mixed messages on whether he believed they were an essential tool to help prevent transmission of the disease.
President Donald Trump offered his strongest endorsement yet for wearing face masks in public, tweeting Monday that it is a “Patriotic” action to take during the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump’s tweet refers to Covid-19 as the “Invisible China Virus” – a name for the disease he has frequently been criticized for using – and features a black-and-white photo of him wearing a mask.
“Many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance,” Trump tweeted. “There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!”
The tweet from the president, appearing to endorse the use of face coverings in public, follows months of mixed messages on whether he believed they were an essential tool to help prevent transmission of the disease.
As multiple states experience a record-breaking surge in coronavirus cases, masks have been championed by business leaders, politicians of both major parties and even Trump administration health officials.
But up until his tweet Monday, Trump has taken a less full-throated approach.
In a Fox News interview that aired Sunday, for instance, Trump said, “I don’t agree with the statement that if everybody wear a mask everything disappears.” The president was responding to remarks made by Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a member of the White House coronavirus task force, who said that if “everybody” wore masks, the virus could be under control in a matter of weeks.
