Melania urges people to wear masks hours after Trump said he won't amid coronavirus pandemic
President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, seem to have different thoughts on the latest recommendation made by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention regarding the use of face masks for the masses to curb the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus.
While the POTUS has repeatedly said that he will not be following the advice, the FLOTUS took to social media to urge her followers to wear masks.
"As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously. #COVID19 is a virus that can spread to anyone - we can stop this together," the first lady tweeted on April 4.
However, just hours before Melania's tweet, Trump told reporters during the coronavirus task force press briefing that he had no intention of complying with the "voluntary" mask measure introduced by the CDC.
"The CDC is recommending Americans wear a basic cloth or fabric mask. This is voluntary. I don't think I am going to be doing it ... You can do it. You don't have to it ... It may be good ... It's only a recommendation...Voluntary," Huffington Post reported Trump as saying.
After being pressed on why the President will not follow his own experts' advice, he said, "From recent studies, we know that the transmission from individuals without symptoms is playing a more significant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood. I just don't want to do it myself. Sitting in the Oval Office ... I somehow don't see it for myself."
As a result, Melania was trolled online for her tweet telling people to follow the CDC guidelines on face masks when her own husband said on national television that he will not be doing it.
"#BeBest n talk to the man u live with. The orange one who won't wear one. I'd bolt if I were u. Save urself. #COVID19Pandemic," one user said, while another wrote, "Your husband told everyone today he won't lead by example by wearing a mask, just as he refuses to use social distancing. Did you miss it?" A third quipped, "Except near the Resolute desk, which magically prevents dictators from catching it." A fourth took a swipe at the couple's marriage as well as Melania's campaign as the First Lady. "Do you even talk to each other? You run a crappy #BeBestMyAss campaign while he bullies. Your post about adhering to guidelines that he won't follow. Maybe y'all ought to have a chat someday," the user said.
The CDC said in a statement following the release of their renewed guidelines on April 3 said, “We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms and that even those who eventually develop symptoms can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms."
"This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity ― for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing ― even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms. In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission," the statement added.
Deborah Birx, the White House coronavirus response coordinator, has warned, however, that masks do not give people the liberty to stop practicing the other protective measures that they have been outlined earlier by health officials.
“The most important thing is the social distancing and washing your hands," she said. "We don’t want people to get an artificial sense of protection because they’re behind a mask. Because if they’re touching things — remember your eyes are not in the mask. So if you’re touching things and then touching your eyes you're exposing yourself in the same way."