Donald Trump wore a mask in public for the first time during a visit to a military hospital a short helicopter ride from the White House on Saturday evening.
The US president’s decision to wear a mask during his Saturday trip to a medical centre comes after months of refusing to publicly wear one.
Not only wearing a mask first time in public but also the president was seen with the type of facial covering recommended by health officials as a precaution against spreading or becoming infected by the novel Coronavirus.
As he left the White House, Trump told reporters: “I’ve never been against masks but I do believe they have a time and a place. I think when you’re in a hospital, especially in that particular setting, where you’re talking to a lot of soldiers and people that, in some cases, just got off the operating tables, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.”
The president was visiting the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center outside Washington to meet injured soldiers and health care providers caring for Covid-19 patients.
WATCH: President Donald Trump wears a mask during a scheduled visit to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, a rare instance of doing so publicly as #coronavirus cases continue to pile up in the U.S. pic.twitter.com/Ksz3vQOryn
— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) July 11, 2020
The only other time Trump was spotted wearing a mask was behind the scenes during a tour of a Ford plant in May, from which a picture emerged.
At the time he refused to wear a mask in public because he said he didn’t want to give the gathered press the pleasure.
At the time he refused to wear a mask in public because he said he didn’t want to give the gathered press the pleasure.
The global coronavirus count is over 1.26 crore, while the toll has crossed 5.64 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University. Of these, 32.45 lakh cases are from United States, making it the worst-affected country in the world.
