White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is explaining why President Joe Biden was seen wearing a mask during a Zoom call with world leaders.
During a press briefing on Monday, Psaki was asked by Fox News’ Peter Doocy why the president, who has been fully vaccinated, decided to wear a mask for the climate summit.
“Because he is sending a message to the world that he is putting in place precautions and continuing to do that as leader of the United States,” Psaki responded.
She continued, “I don’t know what setups they all had in their countries. That may warrant some more reporting or not. But obviously, he had a pool there for portions. There were additional staff there, additional personnel. And that’s the sort of model that we try to keep ourselves to.”
Doocy noted that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that people who are fully vaccinated can gather in their homes without masks or social distancing.
However, Psaki pushed back as she said, “That’s actually for in your private home. So it’s not workplace guidance. And we still wear masks around here just like you are all wearing masks. And we wear masks in our offices and continue to abide by that until that guidance changes.”
Watch the video below:
.@pdoocy: "Why was President Biden the only world leader at the climate summit Zoom who was wearing a mask?"@PressSec: "Because he is sending a message to the world that he is putting in place precautions and continuing to do that as leader of the United States." pic.twitter.com/k9iLiihmQi
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 26, 2021
On Friday, a screenshot of the Zoom summit surfaced on social media that appeared to show Biden was the only world leader wearing a mask.
https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1385572138485231617
Fact-checking website Snopes noted that Biden was sitting socially distanced at a table with other administration officials, and there were other personnel in the room as well.
Additionally, the website noted that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi were also seen wearing masks during different portions of the event.