If 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden were president now amid the coronavirus pandemic, he would make sure Americans had to wear masks in public, he says.
Biden was asked if he “became president tomorrow” what he would do differently regarding the pandemic and trying to combat the growing number of cases during Thursday’s interview with KDKA, the CBS affiliate in Pittsburgh.
He said that he would ensure that everyone wore a mask in public as well as stockpiling the necessary personal protective equipment.
“The one thing we do know is these masks make a gigantic difference,” Biden said. “I would insist that everybody out in public be wearing that mask. Anyone to reopen would have to make sure that they walked into a business that had masks.”
Asked if he could use executive action to mandate Americans to wear masks in public, Biden responded, “Yes, I would. From an executive standpoint, yes, I would.”
“I would do everything possible to make it required that people had to wear masks in public,” the former vice president added.
See Biden’s remarks below:
Biden’s remarks on masks come as he tore into President Donald Trump for his administration’s handling of the pandemic.
During a speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, the former vice president said, “He’s like a child who can’t believe this has happened to him. All his whining and self- pity. Well, this pandemic didn’t happen to him, it happened to all of us,” as IJR reported.
“And his job isn’t to whine about it,” Biden added. “His job is to do something about it.”
There are roughly 2,505,909 known coronavirus cases in the U.S. with 126,823 deaths due to the virus and 1,052,392 recoveries, as of Friday morning. The U.S. saw a record number of cases in a single day on Thursday with 37,077 — the previous high was on April 24.