Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden called for a three-month national mask mandate Thursday in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus across the country.
The call came during a press conference in Delaware with California Sen. Kamala Harris, whom Biden selected as his running mate on Tuesday.
“Every American should be wearing a mask when they’re outside for the next three months at a minimum,” Biden told reporters. (RELATED: Goldman Sachs Study Finds National Mask Mandate Would Spare Economy 5% GDP Loss)
Joe Biden:
“Every single American should be wearing a mask when they are outside for the next three months at a minimum.”
“Every governor should mandate mandatory mask wearing.” pic.twitter.com/T8T5JH11Ko
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 13, 2020
Harris echoed the former vice president’s comments, saying that Biden’s call for a mandate is “what real leadership looks like,” Fox News reported.
Biden adds “If the president had acted sooner, just one week earlier, it would have thirty some thousand lives…”
“Lets institute a mask mandate nationwide starting immediately.” pic.twitter.com/DtaS0Azu1p
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) August 13, 2020
Biden’s position stands in contrast to President Donald Trump, who, despite being “a believer in masks,” has stopped short of supporting a nationwide mask mandate, instead saying that he would leave the decision to governors.
“Everybody who is saying don’t wear a mask – all of the sudden everybody’s got to wear a mask, and as you know masks cause problems too. With that being said, I’m a believer in masks. I think masks are good,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News Sunday in July.
While over 30 governors, both Republican and Democratic, have announced statewide mask mandates in recent weeks, some GOP governors have resisted growing calls to do so.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp issued an executive order in July banning municipal mask mandates in Georgia.
In the past six months, the coronavirus has infected over 5.2 million and killed over 165,000 Americans, according to a Johns Hopkins University database.
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