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Joe Biden wears mask in Zoom interview with reporter, Internet says it's 'absolutely moronic'

Biden was teleconferencing with reporter Brittany Schmidt from Green Bay’s WBAY while in Manitowoc, Wisconsin

After touring the Wisconsin Aluminum Foundry on Monday, September 21, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was mocked when he decided to appear for a remote interview with a local Wisconsin ABC affiliate over Zoom, wearing a mask.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises wearing a face mask or some type of nose and mouth covering while appearing in public places, where people have high chances of contracting the novel coronavirus that has presently become a pandemic. However, Biden was teleconferencing with reporter Brittany Schmidt from Green Bay’s WBAY while in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. There was no suggestion of them being in the same room at the time of the interview, nor was there anyone seen on camera near Biden when the interview was taking place. Since Schmidt was not wearing a mask during the interview, people were confused as to why the former vice president was wearing one.

"Q: Who would be dumb enough to wear a mask on a zoom call?  A: Joe Biden" one user wrote in Twitter, while another says, "@JoeBiden why are you wearing a mask in a Zoom mtg?" A third remarked, "@JoeBiden says he's the candidate of Science™, but he wore a mask for a Zoom interview today" A fourth commented, "Answering a question on a Zoom call with a mask on?... Every day he sinks further and further into oblivion." A fifth wrote, "Yeah, I also wear a mask when I'm on a Zoom call with my colleagues to show my moral superiority. Absolutely moronic." A sixth quipped, "Is it likely the presidential debates are gonna be done over Zoom so Joe can wear a mask and someone can answer the questions for him like a ventriloquist's dummy?"

Before the one-on-one interview, Biden attacked President Donald Trump in his speech, which was also socially distanced, with no one in attendance other than the press, and the media representatives were required to sit within circles marked on the floor. Biden wore a mask for the speech, although he was allowed to remove it. NBC News host, Marianna Sotomayor, who covered the event, tweeted, explaining, "@JoeBiden continues to wear a mask throughout his remarks in Manitowoc, Wis because the state has a mask mandate for anyone indoors. As @shaqbrewster reports, the governor's order allows Biden, a politician, to remove it but the nominee's motto has always been to lead by example."

Biden began his remarks stressing the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, especially in Wisconsin which recently crossed the 100,000 case threshold. “Due to Donald Trump’s lies and incompetence... we have seen one of the greatest losses in American history," he noted, adding, "We've been living with this pandemic for so long, I worry we’re risking becoming numb to the toll that it has taken on us and our country." He went onto warn that Trump knows how the virus can spread quickly which is why he keeps his distance from the crowds at his campaign rallies. "The folks who come are packed in tight as they can be, risking disease, mostly without masks. But not Trump," he said.