Trump reverses course on masks, calling them ‘patriotic’

The mask may have reached a tipping point.
President Donald Trump’s administration pushed to encourage mask-wearing, explicitly endorsing a measure widely seen as crucial to stemming the coronavirus pandemic, and potentially quelling a bitter debate that experts say costs lives.
The president, who for months resisted covering his face in public, tweeted that “it is Patriotic to wear a face mask when you can’t socially distance.” And Vice President Mike Pence told governors in a teleconference that he supported their mask mandates, with the administration even sending a memorandum to New Jersey recommending that it continue its order.
The reversal followed polls that showed Trump’s refusal to champion masks was out of step with citizens terrified by rising case counts nationwide.
It also comes as Republican governors, facing outbreaks spiraling beyond control, begin to break with Trump on the issue. Texas Governor Greg Abbott last week cast masks as key to ensuring the state wouldn’t need to shut down its economy a second time, though he resisted ordering their use. Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves required residents of 23 hard-hit counties to start wearing masks.
“We have to take Covid-19 seriously,” Reeves said at a news conference. “This virus is not going away. There are lives on the line.”
Coronavirus cases in the US increased to 3.79 million, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg. The disease has killed almost 141,000 Americans so far.
The administration’s refusal to formulate a national plan to fight the virus has become a major hurdle to Trump’s re-election, and the president said he would resume regular Covid-19 briefings. Pence told governors in the teleconference that the administration would support the mask orders, according to a person who heard the call.
And in the afternoon, Trump sent the tweet showing himself in a mask with the presidential seal. “There is nobody more Patriotic than me, your favorite President!” he wrote. CNN, citing anonymous sources, reported that the tweet was prompted by internal polling that showed disapproval of Trump’s handling of the pandemic.
Cloth masks don’t guarantee protection from the virus. But they do help block droplets of water vapor, carried on breath, from spreading far beyond the face. If people are infected with the coronavirus but don’t know it, a mask can help prevent them from infecting those around them.
Trump has appeared in public in a mask only once, on a visit to a military hospital, and he gave no indication that he would wear one regularly. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Trump’s tweet muddled what had become a bitter partisan debate. He had shunned masks, and many supporters said
mandating them infringed on their rights. Trump initially argued for a mask-free Republican
convention and there were
anti-mask demonstrations and videos of ugly confrontations
in stores.
But Trump’s new stance could put mask mandates in
the same category as laws
about seat belts, motorcycle helmets or secondhand smoke — safety measures that, while unpopular at first, eventually won
acceptance.
Researchers who have studied such shifts in public opinion say the identity of the people urging change can make a
difference.