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CDC recommends Americans wear masks

  • April 03, 2020

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that the government recommends that Americans wear masks outside to protect against coronavirus.

In a daily briefing with reporters, Trump stressed that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not advise the use of medical grade masks which should be reserved for health care workers.

He added that the recommendation is an additional voluntary measure.

“It’s voluntary…I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” said Trump, though he added “it may be good.”

The President also noted that the new recommendation should not be seen as replacing previously recommended social distancing measures.

Top officials at the CDC had been pushing for Trump to advise everyone — even people who appear to be healthy — to wear a mask when shopping at the grocery store or in other public places, The New York Times reported.

Some White House officials resisted, however, said a top CDC. official who has seen emails from people in the West Wing. The official said that people around Trump pressed him to limit the mask-wearing guidance only to people in “areas of widespread transmission.”

Meanwhile on Friday, the White House announced that any person “in close proximity” to Trump or Vice President Mike Pence will be tested for the novel coronavirus.

On Thursday, the White House said that Trump had been tested for coronavirus for a second time and the test came back negative.

Trump later said he took the rapid point-of-care test, which yielded results in about 15 minutes, out of “curiosity” to see how quickly it worked.

The President was first tested for the virus last month after coming into contact with a Brazilian official who later tested positive. That test, too, came back negative.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)

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