President Trump today wore a mask in a public setting for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic struck the nation in earnest in March.
Trump wore a black mask during a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
The institution requires mask-wearing as a means of preventing spread of COVID-19, but the president has not always abided by such requirements.
In a visit to a Ford vehicle manufacturing plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan, on May 21, the company said it made its mandatory mask policy clear to the White House, but Trump wore one only part of tour, and not in front of cameras. “I didn’t want to give the press the pleasure of seeing it,” he said.
Mask-wearing has become a political issue as some of the president’s followers have made wearing one a sign of submission to liberal opposition.
Trump has not called for a national mask mandate even as some of the administration’s own medical experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have suggested mask-wearing is key to preventing the virus from spreading.
The United States has seen nearly 3,250,000 cases and over 135,000 deaths through today.
People wearing masks has been cited as a key component of success against the virus in places like Japan and South Korea.
But Trump has focused on the way the protective equipment looks on him.
Last week he told Fox News, “I mean, I’d have no problem. Actually, I had a mask on, I said I like the way I looked. Okay? I thought it was okay. It was a dark black mask. And I thought it looked okay. It looked like the Lone Ranger. But no, I have no problem with that. And if people feel good about it, they should do it.”
Today Trump was accompanied by military leaders and followed by staff who were all wearing masks.
The U.S. continues to report record breaking new coronavirus cases as outbreaks surge in states in the South and West.
The country reported a record 66,627 new cases on Friday, the second day in a row new cases have exceeded 60,000.
The rise in cases is due partly to expanded testing that is uncovering more infections.
However, many states that re-opened after the nation saw a lull in infections have since experienced a significant resurgence of the virus.
Florida, a major epicenter of U.S. outbreak, reported 10,383 new cases as of this morning after logging more than 11,000 cases the day prior, according to the state health department.
A total of 19 states reported record daily new case averages Friday.
Epidemiologists in Florida and Texas say they expect deaths to continue to rise for at least several weeks.
In Texas, which has seen continued records for new virus deaths and hospitalizations throughout the week, Gov. Greg Abbott has warned of a second lockdown if people keep flouting the statewide mask mandate and cases keep rising.
“The worst is yet to come as we work our way through that massive increase in people testing positive,” Abbott said in a local television interview.
In Georgia, where cases surged by more than 4,000 on Friday, Atlanta officials are reverting back to Phase 1 guidelines, in which residents are required to stay home except for essential outings.
“Georgia reopened in a reckless manner and the people of our city and state are suffering the consequences,” Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said on Friday.
The Atlanta mayor’s guidance directly clashes with Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who has pushed an aggressive reopening and dismissed mask mandates as “unenforceable.”
At least 134,130 people in the U.S. have died since the start of the outbreak in March, and more than 3 million cases have been reported across the country, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.