On Saturday, US President Donald Trump was reportedly seen wearing a mask for the first time during the Coronavirus pandemic. He had gone to a military medical facility, Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre, to meet doctors, healthcare workers, and wounded soldiers. His navy blue mask carried a presidential seal that was embossed in gold.
Earlier, Trump refrained from wearing a mask while making public appearances. Unlike other world leaders, he refused to ask fellow Americans to wear a mask in public. As per reports, his aides have asked him to wear masks on multiple occasions. His critics are however of the view that his refusal to wear a face-covering in public exhibited a lack of leadership.
Justifying his decision to wear a mask during his visit to the medical facility, he said, “I think when you are in a hospital, especially in that particular setting when you are talking to a lot of soldiers, people that in some cases just got off the operating table, I think it’s a great thing to wear a mask.” Despite confirmed cases of Coronavirus and fatalities, Donald Trump has been vocal about reopening educational institutions and resuming business activities.
Donald Trump changes his stance on ‘masks’
The US President had made contradictory statements with respect to face coverings. Reportedly, he had earlier mocked Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden for wearing a mask in public. While leaving the White House, he stated that he was never against masks but that there was an appropriate time and place for wearing one. Last week, he said that he liked how he looked in a mask and compared himself with Lone Ranger who fought the outlaws in American Old West. The character also had a native American friend named Tonto.
He had also mocked people who would touch their faces after taking off their masks. “They put their finger on the mask, and they take them off, and then they start touching their eyes and touching their nose and their mouth. And then they don’t know how they caught it,” Donald Trump was quoted as saying. Earlier when the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended face coverings in public, he said, “I don’t think I’m going to be doing it. Wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens – I just don’t see it.” In June this year, he told the Wall Street Journal that protestors might wear masks to indicate their disapproval of him.
