The Trump administration’s coronavirus task force stepped up its calls for Americans to wear masks but Vice President Mike Pence said there were no plans to override governors who have yet to require them.
“Please, please, please wear a face covering when you go out in public,” Surgeon General Jerome Adams, a member of the task force, said at a briefing Tuesday.
Adams delivered the strongest plea to the public yet from an administration that has often sidestepped direct recommendations to wear masks. Health Secretary Alex Azar and Pence both urged wearing a mask at the same event Tuesday in Rockville, Maryland, though Pence only said to do so if local authorities recommended it.
“Wear a mask, wherever it’s indicated or wherever you’re not able to practice the kind of social distancing that would prevent the spread of the coronavirus,” Pence said.
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