After Trump’s positive COVID-19 test, previous comments on masks see renewed scrutiny
President Donald Trump’s past comments about face masks are getting renewed attention Friday after the announcement that he and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus.
Trump has at times downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic and has shifted gears on masks, initially refusing to be photographed wearing one and later tweeting that wearing masks was “patriotic.”
During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Trump said he wears masks “when needed.”
When Trump tested positive for COVID-19, some people quickly pointed to Trump’s remarks during the debate in which he mocked Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for wearing masks.
“I don’t wear face masks like him,” Trump said, referring to Biden. “Every time you see him he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”
Biden replied that “masks make a big difference” in preventing the spread of the virus and that up to 100,000 lives could be saved by January if people wear masks and practice social distancing.
Social media users and pundits have criticized Trump’s family members for not wearing masks to Tuesday’s debate and defying the venue’s rules.
Trump’s children, including Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., didn’t wear masks when they sat in the front row, Business Insider reported.
“Reminder that the Trump family and their guests sat unmasked in the debate hall Tuesday night despite rules mandating all attendees wear masks. @FLOTUS, who has now tested positive, entered the hall wearing a mask but removed it when she sat down,” NBC reporter Beth Fouhy tweeted.
Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut has criticized Trump for not wearing a mask in the past.
“Let’s be clear ... COVID didn’t sneak up on the President,” Murphy wrote on Twitter on Friday. “Since the spring, the White House has had multiple positive cases, including several people who have direct contact with Trump. And yet he didn’t wear a mask at public events or private meetings at the White House.”
Previous comments
In early April, Trump said he wouldn’t wear a mask although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended them “in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”
“I just don’t want to wear one myself,” Trump told reporters at the time, according to Newsweek. “It’s a recommendation, they recommend it. I’m feeling good. Somehow, sitting in the Oval Office behind that beautiful resolute desk, the great resolute desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know. Somehow, I don’t see it for myself. I just don’t.”
Trump has been photographed in public places not wearing a mask.
He did not wear a face covering while visiting a Honeywell mask plant in Arizona on May 5, his first trip outside of Washington, D.C., since the pandemic started.
“I had a mask on for a period of time,” Trump said at the time, according to CNN. “I had it on back — backstage. But they said you didn’t need it, so, I didn’t need it. And by the way, if you noticed, nobody else had it on that was in the group.”
Trump’s stance on masks softened as the pandemic continued. He wore a face mask for the first time in public on July 11 during a visit to a military hospital, the Associated Press reported.
A week later, Trump tweeted a photo of himself wearing a face mask, writing that wearing one was “patriotic” and “there is nobody more Patriotic than me.”
“We are United in our effort to defeat the Invisible China Virus, and many people say that it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance,” Trump tweeted. “There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!”
This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 10:21 AM with the headline "After Trump’s positive COVID-19 test, previous comments on masks see renewed scrutiny."