President Donald Trump does not want to issue a nationwide order requiring Americans to wear masks amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Despite pressure by some for a mask mandate, Trump was asked during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace if he would consider a national mandate.
“I want people to have a certain freedom and I don’t believe in that, no,” Trump responded.
The president also said he does not “agree with the statement that if everyone wore a mask, everything disappears.” He added:
“Dr. [Anthony] Fauci said don’t wear a mask, our surgeon general — terrific guy — said don’t wear a mask. Everybody was saying don’t wear a mask, all of a sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask.”
Concluding, the president said, “And as you know, masks cause problems too. With that being said, I am a believer in masks. I think masks are good.”
Watch Trump’s interview below:
Earlier this week Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that if Americans wore a mask then the U.S. could get the outbreak under control.
“If we could get everybody to wear masks right now, I really do think over the next four, six, eight weeks we could bring this epidemic under control,” he said.
Redfield added, “Masking is not a political issue, it’s a public health issue.”
Trump was seen wearing a mask during his visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center on July 11, following months of receiving criticism for not wearing one publicly.
In regard to wearing a mask, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said this week that she plans to propose an amendment to the next coronavirus relief package that would hold back funding to states who refuse to mandate masks, as IJR reported.
“My hope has been that other governors would show the leadership to institute their own mask mandates, but so far that hasn’t happened. It’s time for Congress to step in,” Feinstein said. “This is a matter of life or death, and partisan politics shouldn’t play a role.”
There are more than 3.7 million known coronavirus cases in the U.S., as of Saturday morning, as several states are seeing a surge in cases.