Biden calls for nationwide mask mandate
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — Joe Biden is calling for a nationwide protective mask mandate, citing health experts’ predictions that it could save 40,000 lives from coronavirus over the next three months.
”Wearing the mask is less about you contracting the virus,” Biden said. “It’s about preventing other people from getting sick.”
The Democratic presidential candidate also responded to those who push back against such mandates.
“This is America. Be a patriot. Protect your fellow citizens. Step up, do the right thing.”
“Every
single American should be wearing a mask when they’re outside for the
next three months at a minimum — every governor should mandate mandatory
mask wearing,” Biden declared.
President Donald Trump on
Wednesday said at a press briefing that his administration was sending
125 million reusable masks to school districts across the nation. He
urges Americans to wear masks but has opposed the idea of a national
requirement and declined to wear one for months. He has worn one on
occasion more recently.
On Thursday he again dismissed critics who
say he was too slow to react to the pandemic in the U.S., saying on Fox
Business Network that “nobody blames me.”
“Look, we got hit by the China plague and we’re not going to forget it. We got hit by the China plague,” he said.
On
Wednesday, when the U.S. reported 1,499 new coronavirus deaths, the
highest number of COVID-19 deaths in a single day since May, Trump
pushed for schools and businesses to continue opening, and called for
college football to go on despite several leading leagues’ leaders
deciding to cancel this year’s season.
Biden and running mate California Sen. Kamala Harris spoke briefly Thursday in the same Wilmington hotel ballroom where they held a virtual fundraiser after appearing together as running mates for the first time Wednesday. They were briefed by public health and economic experts on the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused the deaths of more than 166,000 Americans and plunged the global economy into the worst economic recession since World War II.