by Alexandra Jaffe and Will Weissert
WILMINGTON, Delaware (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.
– – –
Alexandra Jaffe and Will Weissert are reporters for The Associated Press.
About the Headline Photo: Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden joined by his running mate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., replaces his face mask after speaking at the Hotel DuPont in Wilmington, Del., Thursday, Aug. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The mask vaccine doesn’t work, cases go up regardless of mask mandates. There is no controlled randomized trial research that shows masks are effective in a public health setting. Hospitals are not overwhelmed with c19 patients. Stop ignoring the science and data. Focus on protecting old people in living facilities. The rest need to start living normally again.
And now it begins. A President Elect telling us of a mandate. Not to mention the 10 executive orders. You are correct Rob. God bless you.
because the experts have been so right in their predictions so far.
they rank well below weathermen in accuracy.
There is no conclusive study that shows face diapers do anything. They are forced political humiliation, and democrats will be paid back in .November
Scientist have been asked what would you rather have, everyone wearing a mask in public or a vaccine. They said everyone wearing a mask in public because it is more cost effective and greatly reduces the infection rate. Put your mask on in public.
Joe Biden and others on the left have often called Trump an authoritarian and a tyrant. This is yet the latest demonstration how they faithfully follow one of their political gurus:
“Accuse your opponent of what only you are doing, as you are doing it, to create confusion, cloud the issue, and inoculate voters against any evidence of your guilt.”
–Saul Alinsky
So in this new era of defunding the police and calling for federal law enforcement to cease and desist from enforcing federal laws against rioters, looters and criminal assault, how will would a President Biden enforce this?