Washington, Apr 4: US President Donald Trump said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends using a cloth face mask to protect against COVID-19, but said he does not intend to wear one himself.
Speaking at a White House news conference on Friday, Trump stressed that the recommendations were merely voluntary, not required.
”I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,”Trump said as he announced the new guidance, CNBC reported.
”I’m feeling good. I just don’t want to be doing – somehow sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, i think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, somehow I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t, ” Trump said when he was asked why he had chosen not to follow the recommendations he himself was announcing.
Trump has faced criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for downplaying of the seriousness of the pandemic. However, his tone has changed in the past week as US cases have soared past a quarter of a million.
The CDC’s website explained that the recommendations were updated following new studies that some infected people can transmit the coronavirus even without displaying symptoms of the disease.
”In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain,” such as in grocery stores or pharmacies, “especially in areas of significant community-based transmission,” the CDC said.
The CDC recommendation comes a day after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio advised residents to wear a face-covering when leaving their apartments.
New York state remains the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, with at least 102,863 confirmed cases and at least 2,935 deaths.
On Friday, the US surpassed the 7,000 mark in coronavirus death toll with a total of 273,880 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
(UNI)
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